A fix for WP e-Commerce error: “The following directories are not writable”

If you get this error:

The following directories are not writable:

    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/downloadables/
    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/previews/
    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/
    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/thumbnails/
    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/category_images/
    * /var/www/mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/upgrades/

You won't be able to upload any images or files here.
You will need to change the permissions on these directories
 to make them writable.

When you click on “Products” in WP e-Commerce, then I am about to make your day.

The fix

For whatever reason, the plugin isn’t able to create those directories itself. So first create the following files:

  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/category_images/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/downloadables/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/previews/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/
  • mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/upgrades/

Then set those files to the correct permissions:

$ chmod -R 777 mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/

Now click on “Products” and the error should be gone!.

One more thing

Edited 3/14/2011

The final step is to secure your installation:

$ chmod -R 775 mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/

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10 Comments

  1. Alp
    Posted February 25 2011 at 3:23 am | Permalink

    Perfect!
    Thank you…

  2. maria
    Posted March 14 2011 at 10:18 am | Permalink

    THANKS!!! it worked perfectly!!!!

    THANK YOU SOOOO MUUUCHHHHHH!

  3. Posted March 14 2011 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for commenting Maria! Here’s one very important step I left out: After your install is complete, you need to set the permissions back to something safer:

    $ chmod -R 775 mysite/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/

  4. Posted March 18 2011 at 4:13 pm | Permalink

    Thanks so much. It. worked perfectly

  5. Posted June 28 2012 at 4:43 pm | Permalink

    Would this be the solution even if all but one of the images are appearing and just ONE only recently went missing?
    thanks!

  6. Posted June 28 2012 at 4:46 pm | Permalink

    ALSO, must you go in by FTP to accomplish this or can you do this through the WP interface? (using wp PRE — 3/4/1)

  7. Posted June 29 2012 at 5:01 pm | Permalink

    I doubt it Nicola. That seems to be unrelated.

  8. Posted June 29 2012 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

    You would have to use FTP (or better yet SSH) if your installation is on a remote server.

  9. David Dylan
    Posted July 4 2012 at 3:36 pm | Permalink

    Thank you! This did, indeed, save my day. (Partially. Now to fix the PayPal errors…)

    NEVER, I say NEVER, take over a project abandoned by someone else…

  10. Posted July 5 2012 at 1:45 pm | Permalink

    Word up David.

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