Thanks much for the assistance! this was EXACTLY the issue, that bug turned out to influence alot more then just VoiceMail Explorer I found.
Again, thanks for the help it straightened everything out!

Just so other trixbox users are aware, what I did to fix this issue was to edit /etc/asterisk/manager.conf and added 'read=all' and 'write=all' to [Admin] section. After a reload, all is well!

PS: if there is anything else you would like to see configuration wise, I am happy to post. I really want to get voicemail explorer running properly, so I will do whatever it takes to get this up 'n running

trixbox 2.8.0.4 + latest licensed FOP2 (2.28) with purchased voicemail explorer + chat.
when logged into FOP2 (as the admin account -- all users are affected/experiencing this same issue --but for this support request, I will be talking about the admin account specifically), I see the voicemail (envelope) icon for all users that have actual voicemail. for my admin account I have 3 new, 6 old voicemails. my trouble is seen when clicking on the voicemail envelope icon the voicemail window displays (which I understand this window to be voicemail explorer) but all tabs areALWAYS BLANK. I have tried so many different things, I just cannot figure it out and hope that with this post, someone can shed some light on the trouble, or point me in the right direction. all tabs (new/old/work/etc) shows completely blank. yet I can view voicemail just fine from listing the folders under /var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/default/{$EXTENSION} as shown here ::

[trix ~]# ls -al /var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/default/118/*
/var/spool/asterisk/voicemail/default/118/INBOX:
total 1620
drwx-w---- 2 asterisk asterisk   12288 Mar 17 14:37 .
drwx-w---- 5 asterisk asterisk    4096 Nov 18  2011 ..
-rw--w---- 1 asterisk asterisk  119328 Feb  4 13:26 msg0000.gsm
-rw-rw-rw- 1 asterisk asterisk     271 Feb  4 13:26 msg0000.txt
-rw--w---- 1 asterisk asterisk 1157164 Feb  4 13:26 msg0000.wav
-rw--w---- 1 asterisk asterisk  117580 Feb  4 13:26 msg0000.WAV
-rw--w---- 1 asterisk asterisk       0 Feb  9 15:22 msg0001.gsm
-rw-rw-rw- 1 asterisk asterisk     264 Feb  9 15:22 msg0001.txt
-rw--w---- 1 asterisk asterisk      44 Feb  9 15:22 msg0001.wav
---------------- SNIP ----------------

my /usr/local/fop2/fop2.cfg file is setup as follows ::

manager_port=5038
manager_user=XXXXXX
manager_secret=XXXXXXXX
poll_interval      = 86400
poll_voicemail     = 1
monitor_ipaddress  = 0
blind_transfer     = 1
force_parameter_delimiter = ","
spy_options="bq"
whisper_options = "w"
monitor_filename=/var/spool/asterisk/monitor/${ORIG_EXTENSION}_${DEST_EXTENSION}_%h%i%s_${UNIQUEID}_${FOP2CONTEXT}
monitor_format=gsm
monitor_mix=true
monitor_exec=/usr/local/fop2/recording_fop2.pl
voicemail_path=/var/spool/asterisk/voicemail
save_chat_log=1
#exec autoconfig-users.sh

the output from running /usr/local/fop2/autoconfig-users.sh has been attached to this post as FILENAME: autoconfig-user.sh-OUTPUT (to cut down on length I snipped all users except my admin user as I'm specifically concerned with admin right now)

my /usr/local/fop2/autobuttons.cfg file ::

#exec autoconfig-buttons.sh

the following is the output from running /usr/local/fop2/autoconfig-buttons.sh (snipped to display just my admin user) ::

[trix fop2]# ./autoconfig-buttons.sh
 ---------------------- SNIP ----------------------
[SIP/118]
type=extension
extension=118
label=Admin User
mailbox=118@default
context=from-internal
privacy=none
queuechannel=Local/118@from-queue/n|Penalty=0|MemberName=Admin User|StateInterface=SIP/118
extenvoicemail=*118@from-internal
queuecontext=from-queue
 ---------------------- SNIP ----------------------

where am I going wrong?! what could I be doing incorrectly? I have yet to see anyone post a VALID configuration that I can compare against, so I am at a loss with what my configs SHOULD look like. is there a virtual machine with FOP2 up and running properly with voicemail explorer so one could easily test/compare configs against? I believe that would help your users greatly

any assistance is greatly appreciated!