File permission issues

Learn, how to handle file permission issues with your Warp theme.

There are two ways of accessing files when working with Joomla: either directly via your webserver or through an FTP client. Different files and directories have permissions specifying who can read, write or access them. Sometimes the permission settings of your webserver and your FTP client can collide, so that when trying to install an extension from the backend you are suddenly confronted with messages, like JFolder::create: Could not create directory or Directory not writable: /administrator/templates/system/ or you may not be able to save theme settings.

Change file permissions

To resolve these issues, you need to change the permissions of the affected files or directories.

Using your FTP client

1. Open your FTP client or, if you don’t have any, download FileZilla and install it.
2. Use your FTP client to login to your server and browse to your webroot directory.
3. Right click on the directory on which you want to change the permissions and click File Permissions…
4. The Change File Attributes dialog lets you check different options or type in a numeric value like 755. Make sure the Recurse into subdirectories option is checked. Then hit OK.

IMPORTANT Always avoid 777 permissions. If your webserver has problems with the CHMOD 755, you can also try 775 and lastly 777 in this order.

Use a Joomla extension to access your webserver

Using an FTP client may also change file ownership to the FTP user of the files or directories you changed the permissions on. This may cause problems on some webservers. To avoid this, you can use a Joomla component like eXtplorer to update the permission through the Joomla administration.

1. Download the Joomla component eXtplorer and install it. It allows you to edit, delete, copy, rename, archive and unpack files and directories directly on your webserver.
2. Login to your Joomla administration, go to the eXtplorer component and browse to the directory on which you want to change the permissions.
3. Right click on the directory and choose Change Rights.
4. Check the options as shown below. Make sure the Recurse into subdirectories option is checked. Then hit the Save button.

Find out more about file permissions in the Joomla documentation.