Unable to write to your .htaccess or nginx.conf file.

Getting the same error message since last update when saving settings…

Also the backup option seems to have been broken too.
When I make a backup with the button in the backup tab, I receive the email but there is no file created and the log indicate success for the backup process…

Anyone got the same backup issue ? Might be separated issue but happen only since the last update!

Yep same problems here. Message about unlocking the two files won’t go away even after changing permissions via ftp client.

If this is their new sales technique I guess there will never be any official help here…

Bugger.

Have rolled back to 3.6.6

Okay, I have done some more testing and despite this error message, my installation seems to be making all changes to the file as I change settings, check yours and see.

I have the .htaccess file set to 644..

Same issue here, strangely it doesnt appear on each site im running iTS on.

Unable to write to your .htaccess or nginx.conf file. If the problem persists contact support.

Can anyone tell me the cause of this annoying error?
..will keep a close eye on this thread. Thank you.

Changing the permissions of the .htaccess file to 644 (which it already was) or to 404 as suggested earlier in this topic did no good.

To get the backups to work — and this also removed the error — I simply created the directory that it was trying to create using FTP. Then it was fine.

Hi all,

We apologize for the issues and the frustration this has caused you. Here at iThemes we value your feedback and are working hard to fix these pervading issues.

Please update to the most recent release (currently v4.0.21), which addresses a number of outstanding issues.

We appreciate your feedback and your patience in helping us resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Thanks,
D.V.

Well, the error message has been reworded, but the problems are the same.

“WordPress was unable to save the your options to .htaccess or nginx.conf file. It looks like another process might already be working on the file. Please wait a few minutes and try again or contact support if the problem persists.”

I’ve noticed (and reported) that File Change Detection isn’t displaying the minus icon correctly (loading from the wrong location), and the exclude list appears to be ignored in WP installs where Site Address and WordPress Address are different. Possibly the install directory look-up is being done incorrectly somewhere???

Consider this problem SOLVED. Steps:

1) Delete the plugin folder entirely, either by CLI or FTP.
2) Delete your .htaccess file.
3) Go to SETTINGS >> PERMALINKS and be sure to reset your permalink structure to what it was prior to deleting the .htaccess file
4) Reinstall the iThemes Security plugin, configure (most should be saved at the database level already from previous install), save, done.

No more error message.

Not sure what the root cause of this is, but deleting and re-installing the plugin worked for me. Probably some remnant files from a previous plugin version or something.

I have the same problem!
-WordPress v3.8.2
-iThemes Security (formerly Worst New Version) v4.0.21

Older version below 4 working properly!

Thank you Wombat,

Your solution solved this for me (:

Yes, Wombat’s method worked for me as well. To me the 3rd step wasn’t that clear. What I did was I set the permalink to WP default setting after the 2nd step, then after 4th step set it back to the style I want in my website. Thanks.

Same issue here – Unable to write to your .htaccess or nginx.conf file. If the problem persists contact support.

I tried Wombat’s method but on reinstalling the plugin I noticed that the .htaccess file didn’t show ANY Better WP Security code, although the plugin registered as being active. And the error message remained, so I reinstalled my backup htaccess file just to have something working on the site.

It seems like Better WP is not writing at all to htaccess with the latest update, as no ban ips have also been added to my htaccess files since the changeover – even through the dashboard neatly shows the thousand added in ip addresses that have been blocked in the past week.

I have checked permissions, and all are as per normal – 644 for htaccess.

@heartharmony The latest version of the plugin shows a popup window with some basic configuration options at some point after you activated it (can’t remember if it needs to click on a button). Did you get that popup window?