Resolving a Daily Cron Not Executing in the Expected Hour

Symptom

You receive the following WHMCS Daily System Cron Attention Needed email:

Your WHMCS is configured to perform the Daily System Cron during the hour of 9 am.
However, the Daily System Cron did not execute within that hour as expected.

This may be due to the scheduled time specified in your web hosting control
panel's cron entry.  Please ensure your web hosting control panel executes the
WHMCS System Cron (cron.php) at least once during the hour of 9 am.

If you have confirmed that setting, and you continue to receive this message,
then please refer to the WHMCS Cron documentation to ensure you have itemized the
appropriate command and any additional options.

Please contact WHMCS Support if you require further assistance.
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Cause

In many cases, this problem indicates an issue in the cron configuration.

The steps below check this in cPanel. The steps will be similar for most hosting control panels.

To check this:

1. Log in to your web hosting control panel and navigate to the cron configuration. In cPanel, go to Home >> Advanced >> Cron Jobs.

2. Find the WHMCS system cron command, which ends with cron.php.

3. Check the values for the cron command. If the cron command does not run every five minutes, you will need to update it.

Solution

The steps below update this in cPanel. The steps will be similar for most hosting control panels.

To ensure a correct cron configuration:

1. In the hosting control panel's cron configuration page, edit the WHMCS system cron command.

2. Update the configuration to use the following values:

Minute: */5

Hour: *

Day: *

Month: *

Weekday: *

3. Save your changes.

You may still receive additional copies of this email until the Time of Day hour that you specified at Configuration > System Settings > Automation Settings (up to 24 hours after updating the configuration).

If you continue to receive them after this time, see Advanced Cron Troubleshooting.