June 17, 2020
3min Read
Domantas G.
In this article, you are going to learn how to fix the “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” error. It is a common issue in WordPress that prevents you from uploading files to your website.
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The error can happen due to incorrect permissions, ownerships, or location of the uploads folder. Regardless of the cause, we’re here to show you how to fix this error quickly.
There are two methods of resolving the issue on shared hosting — by changing the directory path and permissions of the uploads folder.
Sometimes, the “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” issue occurs because WordPress can’t recognize the location of the uploads folder.
You might face the problem after you have just moved your site to another hosting provider. To fix it, you need to modify your WordPress config file:
define( 'UPLOADS', 'wp-content/uploads' );
before this line:
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
If you still get the “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” error after following Method 1, you might want to try resetting the permissions of your uploads folder.
Simply follow the instructions below:
By performing this method, you will reset the permissions of the uploads folder and its subfolders to 755.
The number means the owner of the file can read, write, and execute the file. This is important to allow the directory to be writable. Hence, fixing the “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” error
There is another workaround. However, you should follow these steps only if the method above doesn’t work. In this example, we will show you how to do it on Hostinger File Manager:
If your WordPress site is hosted on VPS, you can try the following solution to fix “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” error. However, note that this method only works for Linux running on Apache webserver.
Before we begin, let’s understand some basics. By default, your Apache web server uses the www-data user and www-data group to access files and folders.
However, there is a possibility that the uploads folder is not owned by www-data. This situation leads to the “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” issue.
What you need to do is change the owner of the uploads directory to www-data:
cd public_html/wp-content
chown -R www-data:www-data plugins
chmod 755 -R uploads
It will set permissions for plugins and all subdirectories inside it to 755.
If you want to learn more about how to change Linux folder ownerships and permissions via the command line, read this guide.
The solution above might not work if you switched over to a new hosting provider, as configurations between hosting services may vary.
The “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” issue can be frustrating because it won’t allow you to upload files to your WordPress site. Thankfully, in this article, you have learned the various solutions to this error, both on shared hosting and VPS.
The most common method is to change the owners and permissions of the uploads folder. If this option doesn’t work, you may want to modify the uploads directory or the wp-config.php file.
Hopefully, by following this guide, you can quickly fix the issue. Good luck!
July 25 2018
Thank you so very much! Option 1 worked perfectly for me and was very easy the way you explained it. You rock!
September 17 2018
Thank you so very much. This guide is a life saver!
November 29 2018
Thanks for sharing! Option 1 worked for me ;)
December 21 2018
Thanks for this. I recently migrated my website and got the error. Option 1 - adding the line of code to the wp-config.php file worked for me.
January 03 2019
I have solved my problem using option 1. Thanks a lot!
March 25 2019
Thank you so much. Option 1 – adding the line of code to the wp-config.php file worked for me.
May 25 2019
Awesome. Thank you. The first option did the trick for me after tying folder permissions.
September 25 2019
Fantastic article! It's 10pm and this was the last issue to deal with on launch day!! :-( :-) Thanks so much
October 24 2019
Hey Domantas, I was about to pull my hair trying to figure out where I did wrong with permissions and your option 1 came to the rescue. Thanks a lot!
November 05 2019
Option 1 worked after weeks of following complicated advice from other sites and failing each time. Wow. Thanks a bunch!
November 22 2019
Thank you so very much! Option 1 worked perfectly for me as well. Great work.
January 28 2020
Thanx a lot. I have fix it with in a minute.Please create a youtube channel so everyone can easily fix their error.
January 31 2020
Thank you, after moving 26 sites onto a new server, this was the last issue I just could not find an answer to - Option one worked for me... Many thanks
Replied on February 03 2020
Hey Mark, Glad to hear that this worked for you :)
February 01 2020
this article is very helpful for me Thank You!
Replied on February 03 2020
Hey Haris, Happy to hear it was helpful.
February 06 2020
Thank you for the clear directions! Option 1 worked great!
February 22 2020
Repair Error 403
April 04 2020
Thank you so much for this.
April 19 2020
Option 1 is my savior. Thank you so much.
April 19 2020
It worked on my case perfectly. Thank you so much.
May 07 2020
Fantastic work worked a treat!!!!!
June 11 2020
thanks, adding define( 'UPLOADS', 'wp-content/uploads' ); fixed it for me
June 30 2020
wow!!! great... I love you advice
July 01 2020
Changing the owner worked for me. Im working on a VPS server and all content was root owner so i changed it and it works now. thanks chown -R youruser_to_be_owner:youruser_to_be_owner name-of-folder Example: user@server:/var/www/my-website.com/ sudo chown -R new_owner:new_owner public
July 05 2020
Very helpful indeed. I have no clue about php, ftp,... and just followed your instruction - and it worked immediately! Thanks a lot for sharing these resources for free!!! Cheers Bernd
July 20 2020
This was extremely helpful. I was able to fix it within 5 min with this info. Thank you so much!
Replied on July 22 2020
You are very welcome, Brian!
September 08 2020
Thank you! After several dead ends to resolve this issue, you nailed with option one. Your explanation was easy to follow and it worked! Little things matter, and you made a difference in my day. Keep up the great work!
Replied on November 11 2020
Thank you for the kind words, Jason.
September 09 2020
thanks a lot the first one worked well :)
October 02 2020
Thank you for the tip, solved the problem straight away.
Gediminas B.
Replied on August 03 2018
That's awesome, Steven! I'm happy to hear you were able to fix your website ;)