How to fix “Is its parent directory writable by the server?” in WordPress

How to fix “Is its parent directory writable by the server?”

Most of the time, this can be resolved with a few permission tweaks. Here’s what to check and fix.

1. Check and fix folder permissions

You can also check via command line with:

Your WordPress directories need to have proper permissions to be writable:

• Directories should be set to 755
• Files should be set to 644

If you have access to SSH, run these commands from your root WordPress folder:

• find wp-content -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
• find wp-content -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

If you’re using FTP or File Manager in cPanel, right-click the uploads folder, choose “File Permissions” or “Change Permissions,” and set it to 755.

2. Set the correct folder ownership

Even if permissions are correct, the web server needs to own the folder to write to it.

On Linux servers, the typical web server user is www-data, apache, or nobody. To set the correct ownership via SSH:

• chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/your/wordpress/

Warning: This command can break things if used incorrectly. If you’re not sure who the web server user is, check with your hosting provider first.

3. Verify the uploads path in WordPress settings

Sometimes, a custom setting in WordPress is pointing to a non-existent folder. To check:

• Go to Settings > Media.
• Look for the Store uploads in this folder field.
• If anything is entered there, delete it so WordPress uses the default wp-content/uploads folder.

Still not sure? Open phpMyAdmin and check the upload_path option directly:

SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = ‘upload_path’;

If the value is something odd like wp-content/uploads/2024, clear it or reset it to just wp-content/uploads.

4. Create the missing “uploads” folder manually

If the folder doesn’t exist at all, WordPress won’t be able to write to it.

• Navigate to wp-content
• Right-click and create a new folder named uploads
• Set its permissions to 755

This simple fix works surprisingly often.

5. Edit wp-config.php to define upload path

If you’ve installed WordPress in a subdirectory, or the default paths just aren’t working, you can define the upload path manually.

Open wp-config.php and add:

define( ‘UPLOADS’, ‘wp-content/uploads’ );

This forces WordPress to look in the correct place for uploads, bypassing any database issues.

6. Check server configuration issues

On custom VPS setups or after a migration, deeper server issues might be to blame:

1. open_basedir restrictions in PHP may block access to certain folders
2. Apache or Nginx configs might need updated permissions
3. You could be out of disk space or inodes, especially on shared hosting

To check disk space via SSH:

df -h

Or for inodes:

df -i

If these look full or close to it, talk to your host about cleaning up files or upgrading your plan.

7. Contact your hosting provider

If you’ve checked everything above and the error still won’t go away, it’s time to bring in support.

When you contact them, mention:

• What you were trying to do (upload media, install plugin, etc.)
• That you’re getting the “Is its parent directory writable” error
• What you’ve already tried

A good host will be able to fix ownership, adjust permissions, or identify server-level issues quickly.

If the lines are missing or commented out (with a semicolon), PHP won’t load the extensions. Uncomment and restart your web server.

In .htaccess:

Check for lines that set the wrong PHP version or interfere with module loading. If your host uses .htaccess to control PHP settings, it could be overriding your chosen version or module path.