What To Do If The WHMCS Cron Job Isn’t Running

Since we do a lot of Reseller hosting training here on our blog, we’ve found that 80% of our Reseller customers use WHMCS in some capacity.

A common question we’ll receive in our support desk is Why Isn’t My WHMCS Cron Job Running?

Unfortunately our techs can only guess, because the WHMCS cron file looks like this:

As you can see, it’s encrypted.

This means even if every single one of our support agents were trained with WHMCS, they’d still be “guessing” as to why it’s not executing.

Because of this, we will often suggest customers reach out to WHMCS Support directly so they can help troubleshoot.  Even though you got your WHMCS license through NameHero, they still offer full support via this link (that doesn’t require login).

There is however some troubleshooting you can do on your own.

Check That You Entered It Correctly

First, you want to make sure it’s setup correctly in cPanel.

You can get the correct cron command inside your WHMCS admin area by going to: Setup -> Automation Settings

You should then verify it looks similar inside of cPanel -> Cron Jobs

If yours looks different (obviously the path will be unique), you’ll want to click Edit and make the appropriate changes.

If yours looks similar (same structure/different path), you can skip to my next recommendation.

Check Permissions Of cron.php

For added security WHMCS recommends moving the cron.php file out of public view.

Sometimes, you need to adjust the permissions so the file can properly be executed.

You do this by locating the cron.php file in cPanel -> File Manager

You want to select the file, then click on Permissions at the top.  You should set them to 755 (rwx-rx-rx):

A lot of times this will fix your issue!

Read The Documentation

The WHMCS cron file is actually very powerful.  Not only is it responsible for ensuring your customers are properly billed each day, it is the file that syncs the automation of your entire platform.

Because of all of this, there are many different options you can run.  Regardless if you’re having issues or not, it’s a great idea to read through their official documentation so you know exactly how it works.

Ask WHMCS

If you try all of the above and still have issues after 24 hours, submit a ticket directly to their support team. It’s likely something has been overlooked in your installation (especially if you recently upgraded).

Also consider asking in their official community as it’s likely someone else has experienced a similar problem.

Video Tutorial

I filmed a tutorial on how to go about inspecting your WHMCS cron job to ensure it runs correctly:

Feel free to comment below if you have any questions!