Logged into the Ubuntu server hosting our Moodle instance, I prepared to address the recurring issue of “Error reading from database on Account creation or profile update.” This required direct access to the server’s filesystem and configuration files.

  • Edit config.php: Accessed Moodle directory, edited config.php. This would be with a command like Sudo nano var/www/moodle/config.php
  • Identify Issue: Detected ‘utf8mb4_general_ci’ collation conflict.
  • Change Collation: Find the line with ‘dbcollation’ => ‘utf8mb4_unicode_ci’, Switch it to ‘dbcollation’ =>’utf8_general_ci’
  • Save changes to the file and head back reload the Moodle Site
  • Congratulations if this solved your issue and if not, you can reach-out to me for support on robertumciime[at]gmail.com

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