Problems with Product Validation

Location Issues

In order for your site to remain validated, the exact url assigned to the license must remain the same. If for any reason you change the location of your WordPress installation, you will need to update the url attached to the licence.

For example, if you initially install WordPress in the folder mysite.com/new, and then later move it to the root domain mysite.com, then this would cause the theme validation to fail and you will receive an error message that looks like this:

Your code is valid but looks like it has already been used on another site. You can revoke and re-assign within your Themeco account.

To change the assigned url, go to your account dashboard and locate the license in question from the list on the left hand side. Update the url in the Location field, making sure the url matches the location of your new installation exactly.

Communication Error Messages

A common issue occurring during the validation process is the problem of the communication between the server which the WordPress is installed and our servers for the authentication.

The error you may get is as follows:

Could not establish a connection. Please ensure your firewall is not blocking requests to theme.co

or...

Could not retrieve extensions list. Please ensure your firewall is not blocking requests to theme.co

The troubleshooting steps for the connection issue is as follows:

Use the Force-Check Flag

Similar to how the WordPress update API is designed, the X and Pro extensions page will wait at least 12 hours before checks to our API. This way your dashboard loads faster, as it doesn't need to make an additional network request. You can force it to make a request by adding &force-check=1 to the URL. For example:

https://x.dev/wp-admin/admin.php?page=x-addons-extensions&force-check=1

This will often resolve the issue if there was a temporary loss of network connectivity.

Check the PHP Error Message

It is more likely that this is a problem with your server configuration, and that it is unable to make outgoing network connections, or that somehow theme.co is blocked by a firewall. You can get more information about the error your server is throwing by adding &x-verbose=1 to the URL. For example:

https://x.dev/wp-admin/admin.php?page=x-addons-extensions&force-check=1&x-verbose=1

This will reveal helpful error messages that you can mention when contacting your host's support.

Resolve SSL Related Errors

If the error message is related to SSL, your PHP configuration may not be configured properly. We would advise contacting your host about this. In the meantime, you can fix your WordPress installation by adding this code to the functions.php file of your Child Theme:

add_filter( 'https_ssl_verify', '__return_false' );

This allows WordPress to skip verification when making outbound HTTP requests. For more information on how to set up a Child Theme click here.

Check the Product Version

One other cause is the use of an old version of the product. Make sure that you have the latest version of X, Pro or Cornerstone. You can see details of the latest versions of our products here. If you are not on the latest version, update them as discussed here.

If you are validating X, make sure that the Cornerstone plugin is also updated to the latest version which is compatible with the theme.

Contact Your Hosting Service Provider

Using the error message above, you can contact your web host. Here is a form letter you may use:

Hello PROVIDER,

My WordPress installation is having a hard time making outbound HTTP requests. I'm using X theme and it makes a request to community.theme.co for setting up automatic updates. Here is the error message I'm receiving: INSERT SCREENSHOT OR ERROR MESSAGE

Could you please do the following?

• Ensure my site can reach this domain: theme.co
• Ensure cURL is working, and allow_url_fopen is enabled.
• Ensure PHP is configured with the latest CA Root Certificates.
• Check into the error message above.

Please advise on anything you discover. Thank you.

Summary

We discussed possible cases that might cause the connection issues when trying to validate one of our products. We gave detailed information on each case and possible troubleshooting steps. We also gave you the template of a possible support letter that you can send to your hosting provider. Finally, reach out to our support if the problem persists.