'Is the parent directory writable by the server?' when uploading media

  • Hi all,

    I’m currently working on updating the content on a friend’s website. I’ve uploaded literally hundreds of images in the last few days without any issues but as of this evening, when I try to upload something WordPress tells me it can’t create the directory and asks if its parent directory is writable by the server.

    I have checked file permissions and the wp-content/uploads folder is currently set to 707, as are all of its subdirectories, which I understand ought to be writable. I temporarily changed the uploads folder to 777 anyway but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. wp-content is set to 755.

    Perhaps more intriguingly, if I try to upload an image to an existing month (and thus an existing directory), I get the same error; however, the filenames are appearing in the folders when viewed in an FTP client, but are sized at 0 bytes and have the permissions 644 instead of 606 like the rest of the folder. I’m utterly bemused and not sure what to try next.

    This is particularly odd since I haven’t made any changes outside of the dashboard prior to the error occurring. The named upload directory in the media settings page is blank so I assume it defaults to wp-content/uploads as specified. Not sure what else to do. Can anyone help?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • I temporarily changed the uploads folder

    I think the parent directory is actually /wp-content, rather than /uploads. You can try experimenting with permissions on the /wp-content directory, if you have any success that way then put the /wp-content permissions back where they belong after a successful upload, and see if the symptom continues.

    Thread Starter Emma_W

    (@emma_w)

    Hmm. Just attempted to chmod the wp-content directory to 777, then 775 and it’s defaulted back to 755. I don’t seem to be able to change it.

    Curiously, the error I’m now getting on upload has changed to ‘failed to upload due to an error’.

    If you cannot change file or directory permissions, I would suspect something has happened to create file/directory ownership issues of some sort.

    Contacting the hosts support group before continuing troubleshooting WordPress may shorten the time to a solution. If they didn’t recently make any changes on their end, they might be able to point you in the right direction concerning correct file and directory permissions and ownership for their particular environment.

    Thread Starter Emma_W

    (@emma_w)

    After logging out and back in again, the permissions on the wp-content directory seems to have been changed to 777 so I’m guessing it was some kind of refresh issue in Filezilla. Apologies.

    With the directory set to 777 I’m still getting ‘failed to upload due to an error’.

    Thread Starter Emma_W

    (@emma_w)

    Any advance on this? Altering the folder permissions to 777 has made no difference, still getting ‘is the parent directory rewritable by the server?’ and things are getting a bit critical since we really do need to be able to include featured images on posts. Any further assistance would be much appreciated!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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