SilverStripe admin stopped working

Posted February 13th, 2010 in SilverStripe (Updated February 14th, 2010)

When I was setting up a new template for a SilverStripe based website I was suddenly no longer able to access the admin area. I got the login form but after logging in I kept getting a page not found error when the web browser was trying to access /Security/Security/LoginForm

Don't remove <% base_tag %>

The solution is incredibly simple.

Don't remove <% base_tag %> from your template.

It took me about 20 minutes of tearing my hair out, wondering how I didn't appear to have changed anything and yet could no longer access the admin. Finally I wondered if perhaps the missing <% base_tag %> was the culprit.

I restored it and I was able to access the admin again.