Few days back, I got a mail from one of our avid readers and a friend stating an error he encountered whenever he tried uploading media files on his wordpress blog.
In fact, below are his exact words.
“Hi Oscar long time, I know you are good.
Pls am having issues with my wp if I want to upload an image from my computer inside a post the image will not upload and here is the error msg i get.
Unable to create directory wp-content/uploads/2013/11. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
And coupled with that, I noticed that my post of 3 days disappeared from my blog. Please how can i resolve all these”
I decided to make a quick tutorial that would guide you through fixing this wordpress issue.
Solution 1: Changing Upload Folder Permissions
If you enconter the above stated error while trying to upload media files, most times it’s as a result of you or a script tampering with the upload’s folder permission settings in File Manager.
All you need do is log in to your File Manager (from cPanel), navigate to the wp-content folder (public_html/yourblog.com/wp-content), then change the permissions settings to 775 and try uploading from wordpress again.
If the above permission setting does not work for you, try changing it to 777 and try your upload once more.
Also check out the wp-content/uploads directory and make same changes while trying uploads to see if it fixes the problem.
There are situations where this is not the cause of the wordpress upload problem, then you’ll have to change the wp-content and wp-content/uploads folder back to the default 755 permission settings and move on to the next possible fix below.
Solution 2: PHP Safe Mode or No More Disk Space
Most times, you might be running your script (WP) in PHP safe mode and this does not allow the upload of files to your server. To easily fix this, contact your webhost.
Another factor that can cause this is when the disk space allocated to you by your host has been used up, and as a result you are locked out by your host from uploading more files to their servers
To fix this, contact your webhost and let them know about the problem, they’ll most probably ask you to upgrade your hosting plan and that would easily save you from the wordpress “Unable to Create Directory Error”.
And lastly, to the reader who sent in this mail. I guess the second option would work for you since you stated that your post was also deleted. This must have been as a result of your disk space been used up. Contact your webhost as soon as possible and let us know what was the outcome.
Feel free to let us know which of the proffered solutions above did work for you using the comment box below.
Thanks for finding time to read through this guide. Cheers.
17 Comments
I Think this guy would find his solution here, though i’m not a WP freak, but with the little i know about WP i think he has used up his disk space.
I guess so too. Thanks for dropping by Larry.
Nice one, but i’ve got my own problem. My wordpress blog mobile version doesn’t display featured images on homepage, it just displays [image]. I’m using your redpress 2.0 theme but i doubt the fault is from the theme because it’s does the same thing in the default mobile press theme. Any solution to this?
Do you actually set Featured Images when you write your posts? BTW, are you on WordPress?
1. I’m using WordPress.
2. I do add featured image.
3. The featured image displays on pc version.
4. It doesn’t display on mobile version.
Have you checked the mobilepress settings from WP dashboard if your thumbnails are also enabled there?
Yup, the thumbnail checkbox is checked. I’m thinking this might be as a result of wrong image url but i don’t know how to correct it.
Hi Oscar am very pleased to tell you that i have fixed the issue. the first solution worked for me, after using the 775 i did not work i used the 777 and its working very well i can now upload my images.
Thanks to u Oscar
I’m glad I could help. Thanks for the feedback.
Seems like a genuine solution.WP should have a tutorial on this.
It definitely is. Thanks for your time.
Oscar brother,
You are just amazing and helped in creating wordpress directory. As a wordpress user i need to learn these tutorials on wordpress. Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you love it Tharun, thanks for coming by anyway.
Hi Oscar Frank,
Thank you for this overview. It works for me now with changing permission 777. I changed all permission under wp-content like “uploads” changed to 777, “theme” changed to 777 and “plugins” changed to 777
Regards,
Ambhen
It’s humbling to know this worked for you. Thanks for dropping by and do have a nice day.
I’m having a similar problem. my downloaded themes & Plugins don’t show in WordPress admin panel but is visible in my wp content in C panel.
My own is hapening when ever i want to save theme options, is the same process