✅ (solved) how to fix php warning: module 'imagick' already loaded — Learn how to fixphp warning: module ‘imagick’ already loaded error!

This article provides a guide for how to fix PHP Warning: Module ‘imagick’ already loaded errors.

Table of Contents

🛠️ How to Fix PHP Warning: Module ‘imagick’ already loaded Error

When PHP encounters this warning, it means that the Imagick extension is being loaded more than once in your configuration files. While the warning itself usually won’t break functionality, it clutters logs and may indicate configuration mismanagement.

This guide will walk you through diagnosing and fixing the issue on Linux servers (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS/AlmaLinux/Rocky), cPanel/WHM environments, and even local setups.

✅ Understand the Error

PHP loads extensions from:
- php.ini (the main PHP configuration file),
- additional conf.d/*.ini files, or
- custom per-domain PHP configs (such as in cPanel or PHP-FPM pools).
If Imagick is referenced in more than one place, PHP complains that it’s “already loaded”.
🔍 Locate Duplicate References

Run the following command to find all instances where imagick is enabled:
```
grep -r "imagick" /etc/php* 2>/dev/null
```
This will search across all PHP versions/config directories. Common locations include:
- /etc/php/8.1/cli/php.ini
- /etc/php/8.1/apache2/php.ini
- /etc/php/8.1/fpm/php.ini
- /etc/php/8.1/mods-available/imagick.ini
- /etc/php/8.1/conf.d/20-imagick.ini
In cPanel/WHM servers, check:
- /opt/cpanel/ea-php*/root/etc/php.d/imagick.ini
```
grep -ir imagick /opt/cpanel/ea-php*/root/etc
```
🧹 Remove Duplicate Load Directives

In whichever files you find, look for:
```
extension=imagick.so
```
or
```
zend_extension=imagick.so
```
Make sure only one instance remains active.
For example:
- If php.ini has extension=imagick.so, and 20-imagick.ini also has it, remove it from php.ini.
- Always prefer keeping it inside conf.d/20-imagick.ini (this is the standard practice).
♻️ Restart PHP Services

After cleaning up duplicates, restart PHP services:
- For Apache + mod_php:
```
sudo systemctl restart apache2
```
or
```
sudo systemctl restart httpd
```
- For PHP-FPM:
```
sudo systemctl restart php8.1-fpm
```
- For cPanel/WHM servers:
```
/scripts/restartsrv_httpd
```
🧪 Verify Fix

Check PHP configuration:
```
php -m | grep imagick
```
Expected output:
```
imagick
```
(only once).

Check logs again:
```
tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log # or tail -f /usr/local/cpanel/logs/error_log
```
You should no longer see the warning.
⚠️ Special Cases

a) cPanel/WHM
- WHM’s EasyApache may auto-generate imagick.ini. If you’ve manually added extension=imagick.so in php.ini, remove it.
- Only use EasyApache to manage PHP extensions.
b) Plesk
- Plesk adds extensions via conf.d. Remove manual entries from global php.ini.
c) Custom Compiled PHP
- If you compiled Imagick manually, ensure that your .ini entry is in conf.d/ and not hardcoded multiple times.
🧾 Summary
- The error happens when Imagick is loaded twice.
- Fix by removing duplicate extension=imagick.so lines.
- Keep the extension declaration only in the appropriate .ini file (conf.d/20-imagick.ini).
- Restart PHP services and confirm with php -m.
✅ After this, your PHP environment should be clean, without duplicate load warnings.

Bonus: Resolve Every PHP Module Extension Load Errors with 1 Command

If you’re simply looking to mass correct these PHP extension loading conflicts across entire servers, then you’ll appreciate this next part!

We’ve developed a universal cleanup script that works not only for imagick, but for any PHP extension that’s accidentally being loaded multiple times.

Single script to identify, resolve, and log all actions
Detects duplicates for all extensions.
Removes extra extension= or zend_extension= lines (keeps the official conf.d/* file).
Creates backups of every changed file.
Logs everything to /var/log/php_extension_cleanup.log.
Detects cPanel, Debian/Ubuntu, or RHEL/Alma/Rocky and restarts the proper services.

🔧 Install & Run

Run this single command to solve all module loading issues for all PHP versions and all extensions:

sudo wget https://phpcleanup.radnoc.com -O php-extension-cleanup.sh && bash php-extension-cleanup.sh

✅ Benefits

Works for all PHP versions(any PHP5, PHP7, PHP8)
Works for all PHP extensions (imagick, redis, xdebug, etc).
Automatically avoids touching the proper conf.d loader files.
Keeps backups for rollback.
Auto restarts services depending on whether it’s cPanel, Debian/Ubuntu, or RHEL/Alma/Rocky.

Alternatively, use Dry-run to not make any of the changes but log everything:

🔍 Dry-run (preview changes only):

sudo wget https://phpcleanup.radnoc.com -O php-extension-cleanup.sh && bash php-extension-cleanup.sh --dry

📜 View Logs

less /var/log/php_extension_cleanup.log

✅ Benefits

Shows which files contain duplicate extension lines.
Displays exactly which lines would be removed.
No changes are made.

✅ With this, you can test safely first with --dry, then re-run without it to fix.

Conclusion

You now know how to fix “PHP Warning: Module ‘imagick’ already loaded” errors.

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