Unable to install default theme

[himanshu_bhatnagar]

Hi,

I have freshly installed Magento. And I have seen several tutorials on youtube and tried them but still I'm unable to install default theme. My website looks blank https://kindercanteen.com/index.php.

Any idea what could be going wrong ?

Thanks in advance. 

[Prince Patel · Accepted solution]

HI @himanshu_bhatnagar

Go to Admin->Design->Configuration now click on Edit link on Main website store.

Now check Applied Theme drop-down for the currently applied theme.

It looks like, you are not installed sample data in fresh Magento setup.

The default luma theme is auto selected at the time of fresh Magento 2 installation.

Now you just need to install sample data.

To install sample data run following commands at the root of Magento.

php bin/magento sampledata:deploy

Now you are asked for username and password. Read this answer for username and password:  StackExchange

Now run following command after download sample data modules.

php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

Now you successfully installed sample data on fresh Magento setup. 

[himanshu_bhatnagar]

@Prince Patel Where is the root of Magento? How do I access it? My site is hosted by siteground. So should I access it through cpannel of siteground? 

[Prince Patel]

Hi @himanshu_bhatnagar

You need CLI interface to run commands. You need SSH details to connect to Magento root and run all those commands.

Contact to siteground or create a new ssh credentials https://www.siteground.com/kb/log-siteground-shared-account-via-ssh-using-putty/

You can give me kudos if this answer will help you!!

[himanshu_bhatnagar]

@Prince Patel  Not possible through cpannel?

The reason why I'm asking is this because when I got started with Magento people here told me that I wouldn't need any coding skills. I'm just trying to load a default theme and it seems that I already need some CMI. 
Doesn't Magento offer 1 click installation for anything, not even for default theme? 

[Prince Patel]

Ok, so you are new on Magento 2. No worries.

Just change to luma theme from

Admin Menu->Design->Configuration now click on Edit link on Main website store. Now change to luma theme in Applied Theme drop-down.

Then refresh cache from Admin Menu->System->Cache management

If you want to install a new theme, install sample data, reindex data, install new module etc. You must need SSH credentials to run commands in Magento 2.

[himanshu_bhatnagar]

@Prince Patel

I have done all this --

'Admin Menu->Design->Configuration now click on Edit link on Main website store. Now change to luma theme in Applied Theme drop-down.

Then refresh cache from Admin Menu->System->Cache management'

But still my site is blank.

https://kindercanteen.com/index.php

Meanwhile, I have also got my ssh credentials and successfully connected to server.
I'm in public_html folder. Is it the root folder of Magento ? Should I run your commands here ?

[Prince Patel · Accepted solution]

@Himanshu_bhatnagar

Now I can see that default luma theme is activated on https://kindercanteen.com/

Yes in most of the case public_html is the Magento root.

To confirm run "ls" command to get the list of directories. Here you can see Magento 2 root directories like /app /bin /dev /lib /pub etc.

Here you can run the following commands to install sample data.

php bin/magento sampledata:deploy
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

In the first command, you will be asked for username and password. Follow this answer to get your username and password to continue to install sample data. StackExchange

Note: sampledata:delpoy command will take time to install data.

You can give me kudos if this answer will help you!!