Uploads failing or updates asking for FTP credentials? That’s often permissions and ownership, not WordPress itself. This checklist helps you confirm the web user can write where it needs to without opening everything up.
Symptoms
- Uploads fail silently or return generic errors
- Plugin or theme updates fail or prompt for FTP creds
- Cache or plugins can’t write temp files
Checklist
- Confirm the web user/group owns what it needs to write
- Keep permissions consistent across sites
- Avoid making everything
777—it “works” until it doesn’t
What “good” looks like
- Content directories writable by the web server as designed
- Config files protected
- Each site’s docroot doesn’t accidentally inherit another site’s permissions
FAQ
Why does WordPress ask for FTP credentials on update?
It does that when it can’t write to wp-content (or subdirs). Fix filesystem ownership and permissions so the web server user can write; then you can disable the FTP prompt in wp-config if desired.
WordPress is stuck in maintenance mode after a failed update.
Often the update failed because of permissions or disk. Remove .maintenance and fix the underlying issue; see fixing WordPress stuck in maintenance mode.
Related
- Hosting multiple WordPress sites on one Apache server — multi-site boundaries and docroots