Are you looking for a solution for the error message “error/moodle/generalexceptionmessage”? We can help you.

A few days ago, we had come across this error message and our Support Engineers fixed it efficiently.

Here at Bobcares, we often receive requests to fix Moodle errors as a part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let’s see the possible causes for this error and see how our Support Engineers fix this error.

Why does the exception error message show up?

We have seen this error appearing during moodle upgrade attempt, while attempting to add courses in moodle, creating a guest or admin user and many during many other occasions.

The most common causes for this error that we have seen is due to corrupt plugins, outdated moodle version, missing a few necessary PHP libraries and many more.

Among these, the most common one is the plugins that are mainly used in messaging.

Possible causes for error/moodle/generalexceptionmessage to appear

Now, let’s discuss the common causes due to which this error message appears.

1. Faulty plugins

Many of our customers enable plugins for messaging in moodle. Sometimes, these plugins won’t be compatible with the PHP version or the moodle version due to which it will throw an error message.

Hence, disabling this plugin will normally fix the error.

2. Missing PHP Libraries

We’ve seen customers experiencing this error if the necessary PHP libraries are not available on the server.

However, this can be easily found through the error message displayed in the moodle.

3. Outdated Moodle version

Sometimes, if the Moodle is not up-to-date then it will throw an error.

So it is always recommended to keep the moodle updated.

How we fix this error/moodle/generalexceptionmessage?

Our Support Engineers are well experienced in managing servers and are familiar with Moodle errors. Now, let’s see how our Support Engineers fix this error.

1. Faulty plugins

One of our customers approached us with the error message generalexceptionmessage in moodle. Here is the screenshot of the error message.

Our Support Engineers started troubleshooting this error by checking the version of Moodle.

As a result, we found that the moodle was of the latest version.

Then we went checking for any third plugins enabled for messaging if they are causing any problem.

For that, we followed the below steps:

1. Accessed the Site Administration.

2. Clicked on the Plugin and then Plugins overview option.

3. Then accessed the Additional plugins.

Here, we found that there was a third party plugin enabled. Disabling it fixed the error.

Through this, we could find that the plugin was causing the problem.

2. Missing PHP XML Library

We came across the same error message but on another occasion. One of our customers was trying to upgrade the moodle and ran into the below error message

# php moodle/admin/cli/upgrade.php
Default exception handler: Exception - Call to undefined function xml_parser_create() Debug:
Error code: generalexceptionmessage
* line 76 of /lib/xmlize.php: Error thrown
* line 307 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to xmlize()
* line 355 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to load_environment_xml()
* line 101 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to get_latest_version_available()
* line 116 of /admin/cli/upgrade.php: call to check_moodle_environment()

!!! Exception - Call to undefined function xml_parser_create() !!!
!!
Error code: generalexceptionmessage !!
!! Stack trace: * line 76 of /lib/xmlize.php: Error thrown
* line 307 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to xmlize()
* line 355 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to load_environment_xml()
* line 101 of /lib/environmentlib.php: call to get_latest_version_available()
* line 116 of /admin/cli/upgrade.php: call to check_moodle_environment()
!!

After looking at this error message our Support Engineers found that the PHP XML library was missing.

Finally, we fixed this error by installing the XML library by running the below command:

apt-get install php7.0-xml
service apache2 restart

After this, the customer was able to upgrade the moodle.

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Conclusion

In short, the error/moodle/generalexceptionmessage appears due to many reasons which include faulty plugins, missing PHP libraries, outdated moodle and many more. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.