Troubleshooting Publishing

Having trouble publishing your site or page? Try these troubleshooting tips.

(For general information about how to publish, see Publishing help.)

Verify Your Internet Connection
Confirm that your computer has an active connection to the Internet. A simple way of verifying your Internet connection is to open your web browser and try to connect to an Internet web site.

Verify Your Yahoo! Account
Publishing your web site requires a Yahoo! Web Hosting or Merchant Solutions account. Please note that having a Yahoo! ID is not the same as having a Yahoo! Web Hosting or Merchant Solutions account. If you have a Yahoo! Web Hosting or Merchant Solutions account, verify that your account is still active by signing in to Yahoo! Small Business at http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/services.

Upgrade SiteBuilder
If you're seeing an error message when you try to publish or import that says, "Unable to negotiate a secure connection with the server," you may need to upgrade your SiteBuilder software.

When you publish or import a site or catalog with Yahoo! SiteBuilder, your computer transmits your Yahoo! account user name and password to the Yahoo! servers: Just as you need your user name and password to sign in to your Web Hosting Control Panel, you must provide this information to communicate with our servers. By default, SiteBuilder will transmit this information using a secure connection, protected by SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology.

Yahoo! has changed the way it manages these secure connections, and due to these changes, you will be unable to successfully connect with the Yahoo! servers to publish or import unless you are using SiteBuilder version 2.2 or higher. If you are using an older version of SiteBuilder, please upgrade now to avoid publishing errors caused by this change.

Important: If your version of SiteBuilder is older than version 2.2, you will need to upgrade by downloading a new version of SiteBuilder rather than using the update tools available in your computer's Start menu. Downloading will simply copy the updates to your computer, replacing your old version of SiteBuilder while leaving all of your work and your web site intact. (Note that you will be able to use the standard update process for future upgrades, and that Yahoo! SiteBuilder remains a free tool. There is no charge for upgrading.)

To find out which version of SiteBuilder you're using, open SiteBuilder and look for the version number at the top of your SiteBuilder window. You can also check by clicking the Help menu, then selecting About Yahoo! SiteBuilder.

If you are not using version 2.2 or higher, upgrade now by following these steps:

1. Visit our online download page by clicking or cutting and pasting the following link into your browser: http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com/.
2. Sign in to Yahoo! using your Yahoo! ID and password.
3. Click the Download Now — Free button.
4. When the download is complete, open the downloaded file (ysitebulder.exe) on your computer to begin installing the update.

If you have any problems installing the latest version, please see our installation troubleshooting tips. Please note that if you are already using SiteBuilder version 2.2 or later, you can upgrade using the standard update process.

Restart Yahoo! SiteBuilder
Occasionally, Yahoo! SiteBuilder may experience an error that prevents it from publishing properly. Try saving any open pages, exiting Yahoo! SiteBuilder, and then relaunching the application.

Disable Your Antivirus or Firewall Software
When publishing, Yahoo! SiteBuilder needs to communicate with the Yahoo! Web Hosting servers in order to verify that you have permission to upload files to the site you have selected. Such outbound communication can be perceived as a security threat by your antivirus or firewall software (such as Norton, McAfee, or ZoneAlarm), which can believe that a malicious program is attempting to initiate contact without your permission. In order to prevent publishing problems, you may need to disable such software, or configure it so that it allows Yahoo! SiteBuilder full access for inbound and outbound communication.

For instructions on disabling or reconfiguring your software, please consult your software's help documentation. For your own security, be sure to disable your software or grant access to Yahoo! SiteBuilder only when trying to import a site or publish with SiteBuilder. If you use a router, be sure to verify that the built-in firewall is not disabling SiteBuilder's Internet connection.

Disable Secure Connection
If, when trying to publish or import your web site, you encounter a sign-in or user name/password error, you could be experiencing a problem with the secure connection between your computer and the Yahoo! servers. First be sure you are using SiteBuilder version 2.2 or higher; then, if you're still seeing this problem, try disabling or reconfiguring your firewall or antivirus software. If you still cannot publish or import your site, try disabling the secure connection.

To disable the secure connection:

1. Select Preferences... from the Tools menu.
2. Select the General tab from the Preferences window.
3. Uncheck the box next to Use secure connection to sign in.





4. Click OK.

Note: For your own security, be sure to disable the secure connection only when trying to connect to the Yahoo! servers.

Can't See Your Home Page?
If you've already created a home page but are not seeing this page at your web address, you may need to rename your home page file.

If you create your site with the Site Creation Wizard, SiteBuilder will name your home page index.html by default. If you created your home page with a tool other than SiteBuilder, created a new home page, or renamed your home page, be sure to change its name back to index.html, or your home page will not display at your domain. Learn more about naming your home page.

Try Again
Occasionally you may see an error while publishing that suggests that you retry publishing immediately. Generally the problem that caused the error will turn out to be a brief hiccup in our system, and when you retry publishing, the error will no longer appear.

If you continue to see an error while publishing, and you have exhausted the above options, Yahoo! may be experiencing a more serious problem with the computers to which SiteBuilder is trying to connect. Chances are that we are already aware of the problem and are working towards solving it. If this situation arises, we apologize for the temporary inconvenience and recommend that you try to publish your web site again at a later time.

If after a reasonable wait you continue to experience errors while publishing your site, please contact us for assistance. To help us better troubleshoot your specific issue, please make a note of any errors you may have seen when trying to publish.