If you haven’t seen the error “Could Not Find an XML Setup File in the Package” when working on your Joomla website then most likely you have only used the basic features of Joomla (which means that you have not taken advantage of Joomla’s extensive extensions’ library), this is because this error exclusively shows up when you are trying to install an extension (a plugin, a module, a component) or a template.
Why does this error happen?
The installation file of any extension or a template (by the way, technically a template is also an extension, but we’re counting it again to avoid confusion) is a zip file that contains an XML setup file. That XML file defines the structure or the skeleton of the extension: it will tell Joomla what the extension does, which files should be installed with this extension, what are the settings of the extension, and for which Joomla version is the extension written. The name of the XML file must match the name of the zip file/extension (without the .xml part of course). If the XML file does not exist, then you will get the famous (and sometimes dreaded) “Could Not Find an XML Setup File in the Package” error.
How does this error happen?
There are several reasons for this error to happen:
- You are uploading a corrupted extension. To solve this problem you need to either find a non-corrupted version of that extension or use a similar extension instead.
-
The name of the XML setup file does not match the name of the zip file/extension. To solve this problem you need to extract the extension, rename the XML file, re-zip the files, and then try to upload the extension again.
-
You are uploading a zip file that consists of several extensions, and these extensions should be uploaded individually (most common case). To solve this problem extract the main zip file and then try to upload the extracted zip files individually. (for example, main.zip will be extracted to extension1.zip, extension2.zip, extension3.zip, etc…)
-
The structure of the zip file you are uploading is wrong. For example, the zip file may contain a directory and then the extension files, which is wrong, as the zip file should contain the extension files directly without them being encapsulated in a directory. To solve this problem extract the zip file and zip the extension files directly, without first putting them in a directory.
We understand that the above can be a bit technical, and that’s why we’re here to help. Just contact us and we’ll fix this problem for you (or any other Joomla problem, for that matter) in no time and at a very reasonable price.