Changing WordPress Upload Directory File Permissions

Aaron Brazell — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:04:30 +0000

Quick How-to here on folder permissions to allow for WordPress image uploading. Some have reported seeing an error similar to below.

This error is confusing for non-technical users. How to fix it?

Well, it turns out it’s pretty easy. First, you need to make sure you have an FTP client. This will allow you to manage files and folders directly on your server. Be aware of the dangers of FTP, however, and if you have the option, use Secure FTP (SFTP) or SSH instead.

For Mac users, I highly recommend Transmit from Panic software. Fetch is a solid second. Windows users can look at Filezilla.

Having done that, log into your server with your FTP credentials (ask your host if you don’t know this). Browse to your wp-content/ folder. Highlight the uploads/ folder. If it doesn’t exist, create it.

Right click or context click and look for an option to change permission or view information about the folder. In that dialog, there will likely be a setting for changing file permissions. Every FTP client is slightly different, so poke around a bit if it’s not readily obvious.

Once you find the permission settings, set the permission number to 777 (or Read, Write, Execute for User, Group and All). This is a very liberal permission setting and not to be used everywhere. Only on this directory!. You can apply the permission to all files and folders underneath this folder if you’d like.

If you want to login via SSH and apply the same permission setting, you can issue this command:

1	chmod -R 777 /path/to/wordpress/wp-content/uploads

For more information about using WordPress, setting permissions or FTP security, make sure you buy my book, the WordPress Bible.

SSHKey Management Made Easy

Aaron Brazell — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:02:41 +0000

I’ve been working with Linux for years now, and one of the main things you learn early on is that it’s better to use an SSHKey than it is to use a password. It gets confusing to some people (including myself), sometimes, where things are supposed to go to make it simple to do password-less entry into a server.

I started using this script in 2007 and have kept it around and use it regularly (whenever I need to log on to other servers other than my own). It was originally somewhere on the internet, and I’ve taken it and modified it further.

Make sure this script is executable. It won’t work on Windows since Microsoft still hasn’t introduced native SSH. But it will work on Mac OS X or Linux variants.

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#!/bin/sh

KEY="$HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub"

if [ ! -f ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub ];then
echo "private key not found at $KEY"
echo "* please create it with "ssh-keygen -t dsa" *"
echo "* to login to the remote host without a password, don't give the key you create with ssh-keygen a password! *"
exit
fi

if [ -z $1 ];then
echo "Please specify user@host.tld as the first switch to this script"
exit
fi

echo "Putting your key on $1... "

KEYCODE=`cat $KEY`
ssh -q $1 "mkdir ~/.ssh 2>/dev/null; chmod 700 ~/.ssh; echo "$KEYCODE" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys; chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

echo "done!"

It is invoked simply by typing:

1	ncc-1701$ ./do_sshkeys.sh sshuser@sshhost.tld

Clearly, substitute sshuser with your username and sshhost.tld with your IP address or servername. (Also, ncc-1701$ is my command prompt – don’t type that) You’ll have to enter the password the first time, then the script will take your DSA public key and place it in the appropriate place on the remote server. Logout and try logging in normally and, if all goes well, you’ll login without having to enter your password.

Emmense Technologies, LLC - WordPress Consulting » ssh — Emmense Technologies, LLC - WordPress Consulting

Changing WordPress Upload Directory File Permissions

SSHKey Management Made Easy