Missing Temporary Folder; php.ini not accessible

who is your host?

I have godaddy, and since it is shared hosting I don’t have shell access, but I was able to just create my own php.ini file and it worked for me to be able to adjust tmp directory & file upload sizes….

It’s a smaller, local hosting company. I think I am going to have to create my own php.ini file since they just confirmed that one doesn’t currently exist on the server… That is unchartered territory for me. Any advice on what information goes in that file? Or better yet, is there an example you can post?

well….if you are looking to learn about it, just google php.ini so that you know what functions are available to you…..it’s pretty simple….

rg_emulation = off
allow_url_fopen = on
memory_limit = 250M
post_max_size = 100M
file_uploads = On
upload_max_filesize = 900M
upload_tmp_dir = /home/content/b/a/d/badexample/html/tmp

here’s an example tho of some stuff that could go in it…… it’s a pretty simple file…

Okay thanks. I usually only deal with HTML and CSS so this is a new language for me. I assume then that I upload it to the etc folder in my root directory? Even though my wordpress is not installed in the root directory? Thanks for all your help — I appreciate it!

mine’s in the html folder…..which is the root folder I can get to….

Thanks RVoodoo. I definitely feel more confident now about fixing this problem. Hopefully anyone else having similar problems will be able to follow your advice as well. Thanks again!

Did anyone get a fix for this?

I’ve got the same problem now. Missing temporary folder. and no SSH access..

My account is at –
https://www.some-things.net/wordpress

I’m not too sure who my hosting is with, as I’ve not had contact with them for over 4 years, but miraculously my website is still online..

I have access to DirectAdmin and myPHP menus..

Does any one have any tricks I can try?

I had this problem and it took a ton of trying dead ends to finally fix it. In all of my reading on this subject I’ve found that there is no one solution that works and it varies depending upon the hosting arrangement. The one solution often cited is to edit the php.ini in the /etc/ folder, except that this only works if you have access to that directory, for example, because you’re running your own server. However, if you are using shared hosting, php.ini might exist, but you might not be allowed to access and modify it. In this case you create your own user php.ini to add your own directives (assuming you’re allowed by your host to do this. If you’re not, you might need a new host!)

To find where php.ini is, create a plain text file called phpinfo.php and putting this code into it:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Upload it to your root directory and then access it by looking at https://mydomain.com/phpinfo.php You should see a long formatted table of all of your server’s php settings, including the location of php.ini. It might turn out that it’s someplace that you can access it, in which case you can proceed to edit the ‘upload_tmp_dir’ line (more below).

You can also see the setting for ‘upload_tmp_dir’, which, if you’re getting this error, probably has no value. If it *does* have a value then you might want to hunt around for that folder on your own server space and check the permissions for it before trying anything else. (Google “wordpress permissions” for more info. Use the 777 setting temporarily if at all). If it works and you get an “unable to move files to…” error, then you have to fiddle with the permissions on the uploads folder as well.

Here’s the fix if you don’t have access to the system-level php.ini (hopefully it’s a fix, again, these solutions seem to vary according to service provider and their set up):

1) Find out where WordPress is trying to create the tmp file. (Courtesy of danoph in this thread):

If you are using WordPress 2.7 [or later], go to wp-admin/includes/file.php, and after line 260 [seems to be line 257 in 2.9], add this line temporarily:

echo getcwd();

This will tell you the current working directory [when you try to upload a file it appears at the top of the upload window]. If there is more than just “/”, you will need to add this to your PHP temporary directory line as well instead of just the usual “/tmp”

So, I changed my php.ini file from upload_tmp_dir =”/tmp/” to

upload_tmp_dir ="/usr/home/usernamehere/tmp/"

2. If you were unable to find a php.ini to edit, you must create one. Using a plain text editor like NotePad, create a file called php.ini.

3. Put the following code into your new file or edit the line in your existing file: upload_tmp_dir ="/whatever-path-you-got-from-step-one/tmp/"
If you have an existing php.ini file, the line may be commented out with a preceding semicolon (;), so be sure to remove the semicolon. Save the file.

3. This is the step that may vary according to service provider and WordPress version. Your service provider may tell you where to put php.ini if you ask, or have PHP documentation in their help files which will say, or you might have to do trial and error. Upload the file into one of the following:

• wp-admin folder
• the root folder where you have your WordPress files stored, eg. ‘myblog’ or the ‘public_html’
• cgi-bin folder (this is the one that worked for my situation)
• or (heaven forbid) any WordPress folder containing PHP. This seems like overkill but I did see it suggested in one discussion of the issue

Hope that helps somebody!

IMPORTANT!! I forgot a step in the above!

You also have to create the “tmp” folder at the location where WordPress is trying to create it! Make sure the owner (you) has permissions to write to it (again, google for more info).

Well if you had BlueHost hosting it wouldn;t be a problem…. in fact it is verrrry simple to fix. This may work with your host as well –

First you need to find the php.ini file as mentioned above. This will usually be in your main “public_HTML” folderon your server so you’ll need to use your FTP to locate it. A lot of times you won’t have one. That is why I said it is cake if you have BlueHost, because they will create one for you and then all you have to do is edit it. If you have BlueHost just follow these instructions.

https://helpdesk.bluehost.com/index.php/kb/article/128

Then when you are done, just go to your FTP, locate your new php.ini.default file and then download it to your hard drive. Now open that file using Notepad C++ ( a great free text editor) or any other text editor… I used Notepad C++ because it lays out the text in an understandable manner (it’s not cluttered) and plus you can use the search function at the top left side to find the little piece of code you need to edit which is – “memory_limit = ”

To find it in the php.ini.default file just use the search function in your text editor and search for the term “memory” and it should show up. Then type in 250m to the right of the equal sign. I.E. if your file currently says “memory_limit= 32M” then you would need to change it to memory_limit= 250M”.

Now save the file, and then rename it to “php.ini”. Now upload that file back to the same folder you downloaded it from. I.E. if you downloaded it form your Public_HTML folder, then you would upload it back to that folder. Make sure the file is named – php.ini!

That;s it you’re done! Hoped this helped! If you have trouble you can call BlueHost support at any hour of the day… another reason why I use them! ??

hi maijag

thanks, i managed to edit the php.ini and it also worked in my cgi-bin dir

i am using a hosting company that has been sadly lacking now for years – bluehost is proving to be steady, so i’ll probably move the site soon – everything got messed up when they upgraded me to php 5.2

and thanks, thewordpresser, i added more memory, too

jodi

Well, I’ve tried several things with my limited knowledge of php editing, but no luck here.
The php.ini is there on the server, but I am not allowed to access it, as I am just a user on the server.
There’s also a /tmp/ folder, so basically, that shouldn’t be the problem either.
Adding self made tmp folders to my website’s wordpress directories doesn’t work.
I think the server is using Apache. It’s @ onedot.nl
So, I’m stuck here…

I noticed another strange thing:
Uploading FilesStore uploads in this folder: (blank) Default is wp-content/uploads
The mentioned “default” folder isn’t there in the WP3 zip file…
So I created it myself, but to no avail…
setting that folder to 777 also does not work.

found this in the standard wordpress 3 installation files, wp-includes/Text/Diff.php:

function _getTempDir()
    {
        $tmp_locations = array('/tmp', '/var/tmp', 'c:\WUTemp', 'c:\temp',
                               'c:\windows\temp', 'c:\winnt\temp');

        /* Try PHP's upload_tmp_dir directive. */
        $tmp = ini_get('upload_tmp_dir');

C:\??? That can’t be right…

Well, my hosting service looked into it, and he did the following:
He made a /var/www/tmp directory, with the same permissions as /tmp, and had php.ini redirect to that folder, which was impossible for me to do.
He says it’s a typical WordPress thing. So I guess this should be fixed in the next WP update.
I think he also made a htaccess file, because now I can make custom permalinks, which didn’t work at first. The default ?p=N only worked, all others didn’t, because WP3 apparently does need a htaccess file, even though it isn’t included in the WP3 zip.

Guys, WP3 needs work!