Nextcloud ignores changed PHP settings?

You edit php.ini, restart a service and Nextcloud still displays the old value. Upload limits, memory settings or OPcache options may be affected. First establish which PHP instance serves the website and which configuration that process actually loads.

An edited file is not necessarily an effective setting

A report for Nextcloud 35 with Apache and PHP 8.4 describes this behaviour. A later reinstall mentioned in that report does not establish which original setting was misapplied. Q1 Nextcloud explicitly documents separate configuration contexts for web-server PHP, PHP-FPM and CLI. PHP itself describes configuration loading that depends on the operating mode. Q2 Q3

A successful php --ini command therefore initially establishes CLI configuration, not necessarily the settings used by web requests. Preconfigured packages can also require a different supported configuration method.

Trace one setting completely

1. Choose one parameter. Record its name, old value, intended value and the place where Nextcloud displays the effective setting. Avoid changing several interacting limits at once.
2. Identify the installation. Is Nextcloud manually installed, containerised, managed by AIO or provided by another package? Record PHP version and web SAPI. A host-side configuration file is not automatically the file inside a running container.
3. Compare loaded configuration. Use php --ini for CLI. Ask the administrator to obtain corresponding web-process information through an access-controlled diagnostic method. A publicly accessible phpinfo() page can expose internal settings and should not become a permanent troubleshooting page.
4. Look for overrides. Compare additional INI files and the pool, directory or package settings relevant to this installation. The effective value matters, not just the first matching line in a file.
5. Reload the appropriate process. Where configuration is read at process startup, the responsible PHP service must adopt the change. Restarting Apache does not establish that a separate PHP-FPM service was reloaded.

Verify behaviour after the value changes

Check the same setting in the same web context again. Then use a harmless operation that actually exercises the intended limit. If an upload still fails despite the correct PHP value, investigate other applicable limits separately. Document the configuration source and responsible service so the change can be understood after future package updates.

For a comparison, preserve the before-and-after values together with their context. This avoids comparing a CLI result from one PHP version with a web result from another and concluding incorrectly that Nextcloud ignored the change.

Frequently asked questions

Must I reinstall PHP?

Not before establishing the loaded configuration. Reinstallation changes several variables and can conceal the original cause.

What information is useful for support?

Provide installation type, PHP version, web SAPI, requested and observed parameter values, relevant configuration path and the service actually reloaded. Do not publish passwords or complete diagnostic dumps containing environment secrets.

Help with this case

We can help isolate the affected process and prepare a controlled next step. Discuss case A0205 with KAN KAI WORKS.