# The admin panel has no styles or scripts

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Symptom: the admin panel (or the store owner or vendor panel) opens as plain, unstyled HTML; menus do not work; the browser's developer tools show 404 errors for files under `/_content/...`. The storefront may look fine at the same time.

### The usual cause

The panels' styles and scripts are packaged as static web assets of a separate library. When you **run the build output directly** (for example `dotnet bin/Debug/.../Grand.Web.dll`), ASP.NET Core finds those files only through a development manifest, which it reads only when `ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT` is `Development`. Without it, every `/_content/...` request returns 404.

### Fix

- **Development machine**: set `ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development` before starting, or run from Visual Studio / `dotnet run`, which set it for you.
- **Production**: deploy the output of `dotnet publish` (or the Docker image), not the build folder. Publishing copies the static assets next to the application, and the environment can stay `Production`.
- After fixing, reload with the cache bypassed (Ctrl+F5): the browser may have cached the 404 responses.

### Other causes

- A reverse proxy or CDN that blocks or rewrites paths starting with `/_content`.
- A custom `Application:StaticFilesCacheControl` or security headers that break loading; check the browser console.
- Browser extensions that block scripts on the admin domain.

### Related

- [Installing GrandNode](https://grandnode.com/getting-started-installing)
- [Application settings (appsettings.json)](https://grandnode.com/system-appsettings)

- [Web page](https://grandnode.com/troubleshooting-admin-unstyled)