URL key for specified store already exists in Magento 2.1.1

[sanjayjethva]

I am facing "URL key for specified store already exists" error when i am trying to update existing category name as its appearing in some categories.

I am using Magento 2.1.1.
I have read so many articales where it stated that it is solved in magento 2.1 version but its appearing again. Let me know
Please help me to resolve the issue.

Thanks

Preconditions

Magento 2.1.1

Steps to reproduce

Try to update the name of existing category as its appearing in some categories

Expected result

Category's name is updated

Actual result

"URL key for specified store already exists" error

[miakusha]

Hi @sanjayjethva, Please format your issue description according to the Issue reporting guidelines.

[mgomez-dgt]

This problem happens when you have product and category with the same url key.

Example:

1.- Create Category: Energy Products(URL Key:energy-products)
2.- Create Sub Category Category: Stacker 2 Energy Shots(URL Key:stacker-2-energy-shots)
3.- Create Grouped Product: Stacker 2 Energy Shots(URL Key:stacker-2-energy-shots)
4.- Add Product "Stacker 2 Energy Shots" to Category "Energy Products" for example

Error: URL key for specified store already exists.

[quienti]

I can confirm, same problem on Magento 2.1.1

[sanjayjethva]

Hello @mgomez-dgt
Thanks for your answer but problem still exist if i can change the category url or name to say "test" or "demo". I am choosing random name but still it displays same error.
I am facing the issue when i change category name.

Thanks and let me know

[sumitgithub]

same problem while updating an product with category changes

[janmyszkier]

Similiar problem here, but touches product-category relations. Removing product-category assignment allows you to save the product without having "URL key for specified store already exists." (but of course is not desirable for any store owners out there).
If it helps anyone debugging this this is the URL Rewrites that didn't allow me to add product unless categories were unassigned:

mysql> select * from url_rewrite\G;
*************************** 1. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 1
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 1
    request_path: no-route
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/1
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 2. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 2
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 2
    request_path: home
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/2
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 3. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 3
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 3
    request_path: enable-cookies
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/3
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 4. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 4
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 4
    request_path: privacy-policy-cookie-restriction-mode
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/4
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 5. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 242
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 14
    request_path: /red-wine/testingadmin-simple.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/14/category/11
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 0
        metadata: a:1:{s:11:"category_id";s:2:"11";}
*************************** 6. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 263
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 6
    request_path: whiskey.html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/6
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 7. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 264
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 8
    request_path: whiskey/.html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/8
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 8. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 265
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 6
    request_path: .html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/6
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 9. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 266
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 8
    request_path: whiskey/.html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/8
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 10. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 351
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 28
    request_path: wine.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/28
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 11. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 352
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 28
    request_path: wine.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/28
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 12. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 447
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 45
    request_path: 1.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/45
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 13. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 448
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 45
    request_path: 1.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/45
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 14. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 485
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 51
    request_path: 5.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/51
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 15. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 486
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 51
    request_path: 5.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/51
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 16. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 487
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 52
    request_path: 6.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/52
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 17. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 488
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 52
    request_path: 6.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/52
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 18. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 489
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 53
    request_path: 7.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/53
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 19. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 490
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 53
    request_path: 7.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/53
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 20. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 491
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 54
    request_path: 8.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/54
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 21. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 492
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 54
    request_path: 8.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/54
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 22. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 493
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 55
    request_path: 888.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/55
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 23. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 494
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 55
    request_path: 888.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/55
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 24. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 495
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 5
    request_path: test-article
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/5
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 25. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 496
     entity_type: cms-page
       entity_id: 5
    request_path: test-article
     target_path: cms/page/view/page_id/5
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 26. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 567
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 19
    request_path: root-catalog.html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/19
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 27. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 568
     entity_type: category
       entity_id: 19
    request_path: root-catalog.html
     target_path: catalog/category/view/id/19
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 28. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 258507
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 72
    request_path: some-testing-product.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/72
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 2
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
*************************** 29. row ***************************
  url_rewrite_id: 258508
     entity_type: product
       entity_id: 72
    request_path: some-testing-product.html
     target_path: catalog/product/view/id/72
   redirect_type: 0
        store_id: 1
     description: NULL
is_autogenerated: 1
        metadata: NULL
29 rows in set (0.00 sec)

It seems like there's something wrong with category update mechanism.

I went ahead saving categories one by one and pinpointed the troubling category to:
/catalog/category/edit/id/10/

and seen there's really no url in database so made it:

insert into url_rewrite VALUES (NULL,'category',10,'wines.html','catalog/category/view/id/10',0,1,NULL,1,NULL);
insert into catalog_category_entity_varchar VALUES (NULL,117,0,10,'wines'); (117 - url_key)
insert into catalog_category_entity_varchar VALUES (NULL,118,0,10,'wines'); (118 - url_path)

then run:
php bin/magento indexer:reindex

now the url would appear in the admin edit form but of course still after trying to save it:
URL key for specified store already exists.

I went ahead and added url keys manually to the DB and updated url_rewrite manually aswell. still can't save that product with categories assigned...

We need to go deeper then....
In vendor/magento/module-url-rewrite/Model/Storage/AbstractStorage.php
added some additional info:

throw new \Magento\Framework\Exception\AlreadyExistsException(
                __('URL key for specified store already exists - '.$e->getMessage() )
            );

and that got me the error I needed:
SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1062 Duplicate entry '/testing-products.html-2' for key 'URL_REWRITE_REQUEST_PATH_STORE_ID', query was: INSERT INTOurl_rewrite(redirect_type,is_autogenerated,metadata,description,entity_type,entity_id,request_path,target_path,store_id) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?), (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
wait what? I already fixe duniqueness of my urls....

Considering the result of
show index from url_rewrite where non_unique = 0\G; that says we only make use of target_path and store_id I stripped the data the app is trying to insert:

array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => 'testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84',
    'store_id' => '2',
  ),
  1 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => 'wines/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/10',
    'store_id' => '2',
  ),
  2 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => '/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/1',
    'store_id' => '2',
  ),
  3 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => '/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/2',
    'store_id' => '2',
  ),
  4 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => 'testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84',
    'store_id' => '1',
  ),
  5 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => 'wines/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/10',
    'store_id' => '1',
  ),
  6 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => '/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/1',
    'store_id' => '1',
  ),
  7 => 
  array (
    'request_path' => '/testing-products.html',
    'target_path' => 'catalog/product/view/id/84/category/2',
    'store_id' => '1',
  ),
)

So the problem seems to be in categories 1 & 2 which, through the admin panel, I cannot update url keys for. And that leads us to some hints for why custom imports fail here and why shop, where the customer accidentally removed his root category (which was later readded) fails.

Edit: dirty fix is changing
vendor/magento/module-url-rewrite/Model/Storage/DbStorage.php
from

    protected function doReplace($urls)
    {
        foreach ($this->createFilterDataBasedOnUrls($urls) as $type => $urlData) {
            $urlData[UrlRewrite::ENTITY_TYPE] = $type;
            $this->deleteByData($urlData);
        }
        $data = [];
        foreach ($urls as $url) {
            $data[] = $url->toArray();
        }
        $this->insertMultiple($data);
    }

into

    protected function doReplace($urls)
    {
        foreach ($this->createFilterDataBasedOnUrls($urls) as $type => $urlData) {
            $urlData[UrlRewrite::ENTITY_TYPE] = $type;
            $this->deleteByData($urlData);
        }
        $data = [];
        foreach ($urls as $url) {
            $data[] = $url->toArray();
        }

         /* FIXME: Get rid of rewrite for root Magento category to unduplicate things
          * @see: https://github.com/magento/magento2/issues/6671 */
        foreach($data as $key =>$info){
                if(isset($info['target_path']) && stristr($info['target_path'],'/category/1') && $info['entity_type']=='product'){
                        unset($data[$key]);
                }
        }

        $this->insertMultiple($data);
    }

M2 team: please fix root category handling and that should fix those.

[janmyszkier]

@miakusha ☝️ there's your update ;)

[frostshoxx]

I'm having the same issue as well. Is it being fixed, so should I just do the dirty fix to get the ball rolling?

I tried to update DbStorage.php per @janmyszkier recommendation, but the error URL key for specified store already exists. still thrown after I tried to update the category name.

[jameshalsall]

Can confirm this is happening with 2.1.2 EE as well.

[jameshalsall]

@frostshoxx it's like your root category has a different ID than the one in @janmyszkier's example code

[kanduvisla]

Confirmed in M2.1.2

I have 2 categories that have similar sub-category names (For example foo/bar, goo/bar). 'bar' is considered a duplicate key.

Fun fact: truncating the url_rewrite table did solve the problem for me.