Magento 2 404 error for scripts and css

Question

I have downloaded and installed Magento 2 from https://github.com/magento/magento2

But I am getting 404 error for scripts and cs located in http://localhost/magento2/pub/static/

I have checked, Apache rewrite engine is on. But still, css and js file are not loading.

When I try to access a file directly from the browser it gives following exception.

Cannot create a symlink for "D:/xampp/htdocs/magento2/lib/web/mage/calendar.css" and place it to "D:/xampp/htdocs/magento2/pub/static/frontend/Magento/blank/en_US/mage/calendar.css" Warning!symlink(): Cannot create symlink, error code(1314)
#0 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Directory\Write.php(155): Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Driver\File->symlink('D:/xampp/htdocs...', 'D:/xampp/htdocs...', Object(Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Driver\File))
#1 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink.php(30): Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Directory\Write->createSymlink('lib/web/mage/ca...', 'frontend/Magent...', Object(Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Directory\Write))
#2 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\Publisher.php(65): Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink->publishFile(Object(Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Directory\Write), Object(Magento\Framework\Filesystem\Directory\Write), 'lib/web/mage/ca...', 'frontend/Magent...')
#3 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\Publisher.php(49): Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\Publisher->publishAsset(Object(Magento\Framework\View\Asset\File))
#4 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\App\StaticResource.php(118): Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\Publisher->publish(Object(Magento\Framework\View\Asset\File))
#5 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\lib\internal\Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap.php(245): Magento\Framework\App\StaticResource->launch()
#6 D:\xampp\htdocs\magento2\pub\static.php(13): Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap->run(Object(Magento\Framework\App\StaticResource))
#7 {main}

My operating system is Windows 7 and I am running xampp server.

Answer 1

When not in production mode Magento 2 will try to create symlinks for some static resources. You can change that behavior by doing the following.

1. Open up app/etc/di.xml and find the virtualType name="developerMaterialization" section. In that section you'll find an item name="view_preprocessed" that needs to be modified or deleted. You can modify it by changing the contents from Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink to Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Copy

2. Delete the files under pub/static to get rid of any existing symlinks. You may want to be careful not to delete the .htaccess file.

This should solve your error with the symlink.

Answer 2

I faced this problem and try to figure out. I agree with Chris O'Toole. I will add an extra step. My steps are,

1. Open app/etc/di.xml and search Symlink. Check it is in the following section.

<virtualType name="developerMaterialization" type="Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Factory">
                <arguments>
                    <argument name="strategiesList" xsi:type="array">
                        <item name="view_preprocessed" xsi:type="object">Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Copy</item>
                        <item name="default" xsi:type="object">Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Copy</item>
                    </argument>
                </arguments>
            </virtualType>

Replace Symlink with Copy word. Save.

2. Delete all folders in pub/static. Don't delete .htaccess and other files.

3. Run XAMPP as an administrator. Run the command line as an administrator. Run grunt exec:<theme name>.

You will see it is running fine.

Then you can run grunt less:<theme name>

Finally, you can run grunt watch

When you do any changes in fewer files(_theme.less or _extend.less) it will automatically create style-l and style-m CSS files in pub/static folder.

I'm running Magento 2.1 in windows 10.

Answer 3

Remember to update file permissions after Magento creates these new static files. They are not owned by www-data, so they will give 404.

Answer 4

In my case it was not because my app/etc/di.xml had Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink as mentioned by @Chrish. It was because one of my module had script error in my .phtml file. I would recommend to check your code in .phtml file. In my case it was solved by making correction in my script file initialize.phtml.

Answer 5

I found important to use the correct permission for the apache with mod_php for the pub/static and var/ folders. From the Alan Storm article http://alanstorm.com/magento_2_adding_frontend_files_to_your_module

find /path/to/magento2/pub/static -exec chmod 777 '{}' +
find /path/to/magento2/var/ -exec chmod 777 '{}' + 

You should execute that in server terminal. That fixed me 404 error for the scripts and images.

p.s. But that's for the Linux.

Answer 6

I think the proper way for doing this is from command line: cd to your magento directory and run the following command:

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

Empty var/cache directory and check.

Answer 7

Just deleted all files under pub/static/*. Magento will auto generate the static files for you when you load a page.

Answer 8

You must run Xampp (apache, nginx) etc as Administrator to allow it to make Symlinks under Windows (tested with Windows 10).

Answer 9

If you are working on local with XAMPP, First check if your Static and media URL is correct or not.

like: <base_url>/pub/static/frontend/Magento/luma/en_US/css/print.css

If pub directory is missing, then manually add update the base secure and unsecure URL in database

Go to magento 2 database which you recently created and find the table core_config_data

In this table you need to insert/update below rows

Path => Value

a) web/secure/base_url => https://xyz.abc/**pub/**

b) web/unsecure/base_url => https://xyz.abc/**pub/**

---

if pub directory is there in the CSS and Media URL then

add/update the below row:

Path => Value

a) dev/static/sign => 0

It will resolve your issue.