Shared Windows hosting account – can’t access the /themes directory

  • Hi,

    I’m playing around with WP, trying to figure it out. I want to use it to create a website (as opposed to a blog).

    I’ve downloaded a couple of themes, and uploaded the zipped theme file to my hosting account. I was then able to activate the various themes through wp-admin and see how they looked.

    I want to customise what appears where on my page, and play around with things some more, but I don’t have access to the wp-themes directory, either via FTP or through my cp – where does that leave me? (I’ve a shared Windows hosting account, if that’s of any relevance)

    TIA,
    J.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • Sorry? Don’t follow. Why can’t you just download themes as you did previously and the upload the individual theme folders to wp-content/themes?

    If you are able to activate the themes through admin pages, then they must be housed in the right directories.

    Not being able to access the directories through FTP is a host-related issue. You have to post a support ticket with the sysadmin.

    S.K

    Thread Starter WhitePhantom

    (@whitephantom)

    Sorry, I’m probably explaining this really badly.

    On my hosting account, I have the following links:

    Usage: https://myDomain.com/wordpress/
    Blog: https://myDomain.com/wordpress/
    Administrative interface: https://myDomain.com/wordpress/wp-admin/
    Upload theme: https://myDomain.com/wordpress/wp-admin/theme-uploader.php
    Upload plugin: https://myDomain.com/wordpress/wp-admin/plugin-uploader.php

    When I click the theme-uploader link, I get the option to upload a single file – I uploaded the zipped theme file that I’d downloaded onto my PC, and the theme became available to me on my Admin page. So I can access new themes without having direct access to the themes directory.

    I’m probably completely wrong here, but don’t I have to modify stylesheet files within a theme to change the layout of my site? If so, should I zip up the whole thing and re-upload the zip file to my hosting account to make my changes visible? (Although I get the feeling that this is not the case and I’m way off target…)

    How do I move things around on the page, change where things appear, change fonts, etc?

    I should add, I don’t have WP installed on my own PC – I’m working purely on my hosted account. Is that a really bad idea???

    Sorry, completely clueless here at the moment. (In case you hadn’t guessed!)

    Do you have access to your site via FTP?

    Thread Starter WhitePhantom

    (@whitephantom)

    I have FTP access to my site alright, but not to where WP is installed. Within the CP on my hosting account I had the option to install WP, which I did, but that didn’t change anything that was available to me via FTP.

    It seems that I can only access the links that are listed above via the hosting CP.

    Thread Starter WhitePhantom

    (@whitephantom)

    D’oh.

    I’ve just gone into the Appearance -> Editor in WP-Admin and there are all the files in the theme just waiting for me to edit them.

    So this is where I go to play around with the overall look of the site?

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.remarpro.com Admin

    Talk to your host. The user permissions are setup incorrectly. When you upload through the admin interface, you’re an “anonymous internet user”. When you work via FTP, you have a username and are authenticated. This is why you’re having permissions issues.

    Also, use the Theme Editor built into WordPress. You can modify the theme files directly through that.

    Thread Starter WhitePhantom

    (@whitephantom)

    Thanks Otto, not sure I understand though – what makes you say there are permission issues or that I’m being seen as an anonymous user? I log in to my hosting account, then when I click the theme-uploader it opens WP-Admin in a window where I’m also logged in.

    When I upload the zipped theme file via WP-Admin it automatically extracts it and gives me full access to all the files contained in the zip file via the WP editor.

    It’s just FTP access that I don’t have – does that matter?

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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