Files unwritable despite permissions set to 755

  • Hi, I can’t edit any files in my WordPress installation. Never had this problem before.

    I get this message at the bottom of the files, where the save button normally is: You need to make this file writable before you can save your changes. See the Codex for more information.

    Folder permissions set to 755, files set to 644. Still doesn’t work.

    Can anyone help? It’s really urgent, I am supposed to have this work done for the client on Monday.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

  • 766

    Thread Starter eatanicecream

    (@eatanicecream)

    Nope – if I change the folder permission to 766 I get the white screen of death with the following text:

    Forbidden
    You don’t have permission to access /wordpress/mandela/wp-admin/themes.php on this server.

    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

    What could be the problem?

    766

    that isnt going to work because you have removed the executable bits that are needed for directories. Directories must be 755 or 777 (if you want them world-writable) — a higher number doesnt always mean looser permissions, or better.

    files can be 766, but it’s a waste of time and an extra bit, as they arent executable, in this case. so 666 works just as well.

    666 ‘the beast’ ?? .. and I read the orig. post too quickly last night and didn’t see folder.. Good thing I’m not a brain surgeon! Thanks for the slap upside the head, Whoo!

    I am new to wordpress and have been pulling some hair over this. I have tried almost every combination of permissions listed in the forums and still am unable to edit themes. Could someone enlighten me as to which files and/or folders must be changed? Do they also have to be set back to default after editing for security reasons?

    Do they also have to be set back to default after editing for security reasons?

    Did you read this in all of your searching? what was the answer? did you expect you might hear something different if you asked ?? ?

    I did read this in searching. I found several different answers. Yes, no, don’t set them back and cry later, depends on the security of your web host and several derivatives of the above answers. Sure I expected something different, opinions are like….well you know that one. Any suggestions on the first question of why none of the changes seemed to work?

    don’t set them back and cry later

    the best answer you read.

    fwiw, answered correctly, thats not really an opinion.

    the fact is, world-writable files and world-writable directories are insecure.

    try chmodding wp-content to 777, and the theme directory to 777 and the files you wish to edit to 666. if that doesnt work, youve spent more time on that then it would have taken you to download the files, make the changes locally, and upload the changed files.

    I never answer these posts asking that question, because quite frankly, I disagree with the practice, but thats another story.

    thanks for the info!

    @whooami, that answer u gave is correct but I am not sure why we need to change the wp content and themes folder to 777?

    I had wp-content and Themes folder set at 755 and files needs to be edited had 644 when I was at my previous host and I never saw any issues. But after moving to a VPS I cant work with 755 and 644 I hv to go with 777 and 666?

    Any idea why?

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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