If you find the Oxwall standard captcha a little bit buggy, you might want to try Smart Captcha or remove the captcha entirely from the join form. You can as well troubleshoot your captcha function and see why it’s not showing up.

Image credit: Oxwall Software Documentation

This mod will remove captcha from your join form.

Note: Custom mod made to the Oxwall core files are wiped clean after each platform update. Hence, we recommend you bookmark this page for future reference.
In your Oxwall installation path, navigate to /ow_system_plugins/base/controllers and edit join.php with a code editor.

• In line 893 to 903 (Oxwall 1.5 & 1.6) or line 913 to 923 (Oxwall 1.7) find and replace

        if ( !empty($captchaField) && $captchaField instanceof FormElement )
        {
            $captchaField->setName('captchaField');
            $this->addElement($captchaField);
            $displayCaptcha = true;
        }
        //$captchaField = new CaptchaField('captchaField');

        //$this->addElement($captchaField);

        $controller->assign('display_captcha', $displayCaptcha);

with this code:
/*if ( !empty($captchaField) && $captchaField instanceof FormElement ) { $captchaField->setName(‘captchaField’); $this->addElement($captchaField); $displayCaptcha = true; } //$captchaField = new CaptchaField(‘captchaField’); //$this->addElement($captchaField);*/ /*$controller->assign(‘display_captcha’, $displayCaptcha);*/

Please, see the above image for reference.

• Now, locate the code below in line 909 to 912 (Oxwall 1.5 & 1.6) or line 929 to 932 (Oxwall 1.7)

            if ( !empty($captchaField) && $captchaField instanceof FormElement )
            {
                $captchaField->setValue(null);
            }

replace this code with:
/* if ( !empty($captchaField) && $captchaField instanceof FormElement ) { $captchaField->setValue(null); }*/

• Save your changes and proceed to /ow_system_plugins/base/views/controllers in your Oxwall installation folder.
• Edit join_index.html and find the following code in line 117 to 128 (Oxwall 1.5 & 1.6) or line 112 to 123 (Oxwall 1.7)

{if $display_captcha}

                    <tr class="ow_tr_first"><th colspan="3">{text key="base+questions_section_captcha_label"}</th></tr>

                    <tr class="{cycle name=captchaField values='ow_alt1,ow_alt2'} ow_tr_last" >

                        <td colspan="3" class="ow_center">

                            <div style='padding:10px;'>

                                {input name='captchaField'}

                                <div style="height:1px;"></div>

                                {error name='captchaField'}

                            </div>

                        </td>

                    </tr>

                {/if}

See image below for reference.

As with the tradition of every custom mod done to the Oxwall core files, you need to clear your cache for your changes to go live.

Remember, custom mod is at your own risk. To remain on the safer side; we recommend you backup your files before modifying them.