### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/1 "2021-10-26T14:35:36Z")
EDIT: I’m reclassifying this as a bug, so that someone who understands this better than I can take a look at it.
a bunch of uploads had “unknown” as the extension. This means that it’s impossible to generate thumbnails. I think this happened when moving a backup to a new site and then needed to regenerate the thumbnails.
I think what should happen when you try to generate thumbnails and the extension is ‘unknown’ is to replace the extension, something like
```
upload.extension = upload.original_filename.split('.').last
```
It seems like if this were done somewhere that I’d not have spent 4 hours on this.
Wait. This looks like the problem. Why return `false` rather than get the extension from the filename?
>
## Gory details follow.
I moved a site from `/community` to `community.example.com` by doing a backup and restore. I fixed the uploads with a
```
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec script/discourse remap '/community/uploads' '/uploads'
```
But the avatars are still the Gray Man.
When I look at `user.user_avatar.custom_upload.url` and paste that URL into the browser, I get the desired avatar. It seems like I need to “rebake” the users.
I thought that perhaps a
```
rake avatars:refresh
```
or
```
rake avatars:clean
```
might fix it, but no joy.
What am I missing?
---
### Author:  [@IAmGav](https://meta.discourse.org/u/IAmGav)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/2 "2021-10-26T14:41:05Z")
In sidekiq there is a trigger to create missing avatars.
It takes a while, but that should help if I am not mistaken
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/3 "2021-10-26T14:49:39Z")
Good one! That callls `User.refresh_avatar`, but sadly
```
user=User.find_by_username('broken_avatar_guy')
user.refresh_avatar
```
also isn’t solving this.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 12:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/4 "2021-10-27T12:30:24Z")
Here’s a clue:
```plaintext
ActionController::RoutingError (No route matches [GET] "/user_avatar/community.example.com/broken_user")
```
---
### Author:  [@IAmGav](https://meta.discourse.org/u/IAmGav)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 12:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/5 "2021-10-27T12:51:59Z")
Do it update when the user logs into their account ?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/6 "2021-10-27T12:54:40Z")
I don’t believe so.
`user.user_avatar.custom_upload` has the correct URL, but `https://community.example.com/user_avatar/community.example.com/bad_user/25/321_2.png` has the missing avatgar image. I need to find the way to rebuild those avatar thumbnails.
---
### Author:  [@IAmGav](https://meta.discourse.org/u/IAmGav)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/7 "2021-10-27T12:56:26Z")
there is a force\_avatar\_update in the user login that i saw in the code.
---
### Author:  [@IAmGav](https://meta.discourse.org/u/IAmGav)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/8 "2021-10-27T13:01:44Z")
this could be very helpful, it looks like a job
>
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/9 "2021-10-27T18:25:36Z")
Something must be wrong:
```plaintext
user=User.find_by_username('Tuomo')
upload_id=user.user_avatar.custom_upload.id
upload = Upload.find(upload_id)
Discourse.avatar_sizes.each do |size|
OptimizedImage.create_for(upload, size, size)
end
OptimizedImage.where(upload_id: upload_id)
```
ANd I get the no opimized images.
```plaintext
broken_uploads = Upload.where(extension: "unknown")
broken_uploads.each do |upload|
upload.extension = upload.original_filename.split('.').last
upload.save
end
```
fixes that.
Then I just need to generate new thumbnails, like this:
```plaintext
has_upload = UserAvatar.where("custom_upload_id > 0")
has_upload.each do |user_avatar|
Jobs.enqueue(:create_avatar_thumbnails,{upload_id: user_avatar.custom_upload_id})
end
```
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/10 "2021-11-10T20:00:41Z")
I think that this is a legit bug and Jeff ❤ed, but it hasn’t gotten any more attention.
Am I crazy or is there something broken here?
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2021, 5:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-generate-user-avatars-when-moving-to-new-server-because-extension-is-unknown/207134/11 "2021-11-14T05:37:25Z")
> I moved a site from `/community` to `community.example.com` by doing a backup and restore
I guess we just haven’t run into this with any of our restores, because what you’re complaining about here are restore artifacts, yes? Perhaps specific to this backup and restore?