Are you trying to fix the file and folder permissions error in WordPress?
Incorrect file and folder permissions can cause errors on your WordPress site during upload. These errors can stop WordPress from uploading images, interfere with scripts, and reduce the security of your website.
In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the file and folder permissions error in WordPress.
How Do File and Folder Permissions Work in WordPress?
Your self-hosted WordPress site lives on a computer run by your WordPress hosting company. This computer acts as a server and uses special software (usually Apache) to manage your files and serve them to browsers.
File and folder permissions tell the server who can read, run, or modify files hosted on your account. WordPress needs these permissions to manage files and create folders on the server.
Incorrect file permissions can block WordPress from creating folders, uploading images, or running some scripts. Incorrect permissions can also compromise the security of your WordPress site.
In most cases, WordPress will try to warn you that it can’t edit a file, create a folder, or write to disk. However, sometimes you may not see any specific error messages.
Correct File and Folder Permissions in WordPress
The correct set of file and folder permissions allows WordPress to create folders and files. The following settings are recommended for most users.
- 755 for all folders and sub-folders. This allows the website owner to read, write, and execute folders.
- 644 for all files. This allows the website owner to read and write files while others can only read them.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily fix file and folder permissions in WordPress.
Fix File and Folder Permissions in WordPress Using FTP
First, you will need to connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client like FileZilla or the File Manager app in your hosting dashboard, such as cPanel. Once connected, simply go to the root folder of your WordPress website.
After that, you must select all folders in the root directory and then right-click to select ‘File permissions’.
This will bring up the file permissions dialog box.
Now you need to enter ‘755’ into the numeric value field. After that, you must click on the ‘Recurse into subdirectories’ checkbox and then select the ‘Apply to directories only’ option.
Click on the ‘OK’ button to continue. Your FTP client will start setting file permissions for folders and sub-folders. You will need to wait for it to finish.
Next, you need to select all files and folders in the root folder of your WordPress site and then right-click to select ‘File permissions’.
The file permissions dialog box will appear.
This time, you need to enter ‘644’ into the ‘Numeric value’ box. After that, simply click on the ‘Recurse into subdirectories’ checkbox and then select the ‘Apply to files only’ option.
Click on ‘OK’ to continue.
Your FTP client will now start setting file permissions for all files on your WordPress site.
If this method doesn’t work, then we recommend contacting your hosting provider. There might be an error on their end, and they may be able to help you.
We hope this article helped you fix the file and folder permissions error in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to fix common WordPress errors and check out our top picks for the best WordPress plugins to grow your site.
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MBarbz says
This actually worked with the step one (Permissions and 777). For some reason i wasn’t able to delete two folders from the “Upload”-Folder and then it worked. For some reason i had to re-start Filezilla because it was getting frozen but it worked out. Thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was able to help!
Admin
Awais says
Hi,
Thank you so much for this guide, it helped me to fix my issue. awesome!!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Shahid says
Thank you …. I set the folder permission to 755 and error was gone
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Tracy says
Is there a reason why it is recommended to use an FTP client to manage user permission instead of managing them in the C-panel?
WPBeginner Support says
Not all hosting providers offer cpanel access
Admin
Tracy says
Thank you very much. This tutorial was extremely helpful.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful!
Stegemüller says
I was struggling for many hours and could not understand what had happend. I found this guide and followed every step. Now both my main domain and subdomain are working again. Thank you VERY much.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
John says
Thanks very much. I messed up permissions and your instructions fixed up everything.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Max says
Could you tell me what FTP program your using, so the instructions are easier to follow. as most programs don’t use the same terminology it seems.
WPBeginner Support says
The specific one used should be Filezilla
Admin
Adam says
I have followed the article and still getting the error please help
WPBeginner Support says
If you are still receiving the error, you would want to reach out to your hosting provider and they should be able to assist.
Admin
Nicole says
I’ve been searching like crazy and still can’t find my answer. Any idea what’s going on? When I follow the directions to right click and look for “File Permissions”, I don’t have that option. So I’m stuck and still can’t upload images anymore
Any advice would be much appreciated.
WPBeginner Support says
If you can’t see the folder permissions, we would recommend reaching out to your hosting provider and they should be able to assist.
Admin
Andy says
Thanks so much! Worked great.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help you
Admin
Jun says
Hello, I followed this article, but I can’t connect to my website after changing all permissions.
Do I have to wait?
Or something wrong happened?
it would be great if anyone who know about this help me.
WPBeginner Support says
It would depend on if you are seeing an error message on your site, for a starting point we would recommend reaching out to your hosting provider to see if they find any errors.
Admin
Bobbi says
Does anyone have any idea why, every time wordpress automatically updates, I have to go back in and reset file permissions? This page is really useful for fixing this issue, but I just want it to stop!
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to reach out to your hosting provider to ensure there isn’t a setting that could be causing that from their end.
Admin
Harvey says
Thank you! This article just saved my web page!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
marni says
How do you handle the request for FTP credentials when you’re learning WordPress on a local host? I read this article but the sharing and permissions menu on a mac does not show a numeric value field.
WPBeginner Support says
It would depend on the specific issue you’re running into but rather than needing FTP for a local installation, you would want to navigate to where the files are on your computer.
Admin
MikeMoy says
For files you state to give permissions 644 for owner,group,others. Why do you give file read permissions (4) to others. Is there some reason others require file read permissions, why are all files not set to 640 ?
WPBeginner Support says
Then users would run into an issue trying to view your content.
Admin
Ali Jey says
Thanks for the tutorial. I could fix this problem for files already on the website, but everytime new files are uploaded they have the same problem again!
WPBeginner Support says
If this issue is constant, we would recommend reaching out to your hosting provider to take a look at possible causes.
Admin
Trish says
having this issue on a locally hosted site that I’m using for test purposes only. So I don’t have FTP access to the files and changing their permissions from Windows Explorer is not working. Any other ideas?
The main WP directory and the Themes directory are both unwritable according to the WP System Tools.
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to check with the localhost tool you are using for your site as which one you are using would determine the options you have available and the possible issues.
Admin
Krisjanis Nimanis says
Hello, did You manage to fix your error? And what localhost tool are you using?
Md Rasel Rahman Ricky says
Thank you sir….
This Tutorial is working….
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Saqib Naqash says
Update php vision to latest
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for sharing another recommendation people can try
Admin
kyrien says
i accidentally changed the permission on my update file to xxx and now when i try to change it back to 755 it won’t save. Any help?
WPBeginner Support says
If you’re unable to update the file permissions, you would want to reach out to your hosting provider they should be able to assist
Admin
dominique says
I’ve made your solution with the permissions 755 and 644, the website works a few seconds and than it breaks agin. And i have to do the permissions again. can you help me?
WPBeginner Support says
If the permissions are reverting then you would want to reach out to your hosting provider to ensure that there isn’t a setting on their end that would modify the permissions as well.
Admin
anami says
Installation failed: Could not create directory.
WPBeginner Support says
If the method in this article does not remove that error, you would want to reach out to your hosting provider.
Admin
Suzana says
Hi, I should change file permission:
/ 755 750 WARNING
Can somebody tell me, where to find this “/” in C panel? To be honest, I don’t know, what this sign / means. Thank you, have a great day! Suzana
WPBeginner Support says
If you’re using the file manager on your host’s cpanel then your site’s files are normally under public_html as that is where most FTPs connect to your host.
Admin
UDAY says
how to solve the error Could not create directory in wordpress uploading thems
Dan says
Thanks for this article! I thought I had completely fudged my site. None of my uploaded media or even CSS styling (I have no idea why that was effected) was displaying properly.
I had tweaked my permissions earlier but must have done it incorrectly. Your fix was the solution to my problem!
Many thanks
Erik says
Thank you for this insightful article – I will keep it as a ressource for cases of curiousity (and panic, of course :D).
What I am struggling with are “wp GET”-lookups with result 404 when playing around with cacheing.
My wordpress installation is in a subfolder named wp, not in the root folder.
Which rights would I have to give this specific folder?
Thanks in advance for any help.
imran says
Hi there, Im having issues in links of FTP and WordPress..first i make a basic html and upload thrugh FTP after sometime i convert that website in using wordpress..now the issue is that the links of those html files and folders which i uploaded in FTP is now not working.just new links are working.The Error is ” No Page Found”
is there any tool, plugin or way to make alive those FTP Html links??please help me in this issue
Osuji Macdonald says
my system can not read WordPress properly. the files are not displaying very well. it just showing white icons of the files like a white sheet paper.
Odhran says
Hi
I have wordpress installed on a local server and I’m getting ‘no data could be retrieved from the servers’ when I try to access the slider revolution library.
Is this because of the file permissions error described here? I’ve set all of the user permissions to ‘full control’ in my index.php file to no avail. I don’t seem to have the option to change to the numeric permissions you describe above. Really stuck on this one so any help would be appreciated.
thanks & regards
Odhran
Andy says
I changed 755 to all folder and 644 to all file. But still cannot upload images to Media and cannot install new plugins.
PS: I upload whole wp-content folder from another hosting to my new hosting and extract it.
Please give me some advices.
Thank you.
Cody Cortez says
This is because you can’t just copy item from a server to another without tweaking the Database. The database must know that the ones you just copied ‘exist’
Taran jeet says
Try to Change Max Upload Size and File Size. This will Fix Your Issue. As It Works For Me
Nazrul Islam says
Useful but since I’m such a newbie and still learning WordPress, I am stuck. I can’t even seem to log in because of the 500 internal server error. Do you know what I should do?
Ali osama says
I’ve a problem after i changed permissions to be like above, this error appears :
“Application error
An error occurred in the website and your page could not be displayed. If you are the website owner, check your logs for details”
Ethan says
This works for all types of PHP applications sitting on a website server and not only WordPress. My host denied me access to all folders and files including login page and registration page.
Little did i know that all my files and folders were still to 777 during local development. After changing folders and files recursively to 755 and 644 respectively it worked.
LB says
Hi there, Im having issues in that I dont have sufficient permissions to change permissions through the FTP client… unable to create new folders. very frustrating, have spent ages looking for a solution. Running a WP multisite running on Amazon EC2). Thanks.
Suyog says
@LB , you have limited access to your FTP account. Please contact Amazon to get you full access. or if you have server access then change permission in filezilla server.