Upload files with new installation of Wordpress on the yourarthere.net web server

by Owen Mundy, September 8th, 2010

If you receive either of these error messages while trying to upload files using a new installation of Wordpress then you might have a problem with directory permissions.

Unable to create directory /var/www/vhosts/yourdomain.com/httpdocs/blog/wp-content/uploads/ ... . Is its parent directory writable by the server?
The uploaded file could not be moved to /var/www/vhosts/yourdomain.com/httpdocs/blog/wp-content/uploads/ ... .

The Wordpress website explains the problem:

"On computer filesystems, different files and directories have permissions that specify who and what can read, write, modify and access them. This is important because WordPress may need access to write to files in your wp-content directory to enable certain functions."

The solution is to change the permissions for the folder where Wordpress stores files.

  1. Connect to the server with an FTP Client.
  2. Navigate to the wp-content/uploads directory inside the directory where you installed Wordpress.
  3. Get info about the wp-content directory and change its permissions to 755.
  4. Get info about the uploads directory and change its permissions to 777.
  5. Inside the Dashboard, go to Settings : Media and manually enter "wp-content/uploads" in the "Store uploads in this folder" setting.
  6. Save your settings and you should be able to upload files using the Wordpress dialog box.

If this does not work you may have to delete and recreate the database.