Cannot Update or Install Plugin

  • I have a WordPress Multisite installation running on a Bitnami stack. I am running WordPress 5.2.5 and PHP 7.2.16. About a week ago I started having trouble updating plugins on the network admin dashboard. I though the issue might be fixed by either stopping and starting all services or re-booting the server. Neither of these have helped.

    The error message I get is:

    Update failed: Could not create directory.

    That same message comes up when I try to install a new plugin, it just reads “Installation failed:” instead of Update. I was trying to install the Health Check plugin to see if I could troubleshoot this further, but I am unable to install anything.

    Nothing has changed on this server nor have there been any updates applied. I have reviewed the permissions on the plugin directory and sub-directories, they are all set to 775. I have changed the permissions on the plugin directory and a specific plugin sub=directory to 777, but the error still persists.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • I believe I’ve seen this happen before where the site was hitting a disk quota. So you might check and see if you’re hitting a disk quota. If that’s okay, you might check your server’s PHP error logs as they may reveal additional information.

    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    I didn’t think about disk quota but I do check that frequently. I am currently running at 4% capacity. I have another server that was hit with a brute force attack in December, so disk quota checks are now a common, daily practice.

    I will look in the PHP error logs and see what I find. I have been looking through the Apache error logs, but haven’t found anything relevant. I didn’t consider the PHP logs.

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by shspivey.
    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    Ok so maybe my PHP and Apache logs are the same thing. I’m still trying to get used to Linux.

    Let me dig a little deeper in the logs, maybe I am overlooking something obvious.

    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    Ok I don’t see anything helpful in the Apache error_log file. I checked the access_log too just to see if something was recorded there but so far nothing that seems relevant. When I check the error_log immediately after I try to update the plugin and get the error message, there is no record of an error there.

    I’m still researching trying to find something useful.

    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    Ok I manually installed Health Check and ran that on my server. There is 1 Critical Error in the information: I have Plugins that need updating.

    That is my problem, I can’t update my plugins. I am posting the info from the plugin here, maybe somebody else will notice something I am missing. Since I am running a Multisite install I just ran site check on the default user blog.

    
### wp-core ###

version: 5.2.5
site_language: en_US
user_language: en_US
permalink: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/
https_status: true
user_registration: false
default_comment_status: open
multisite: true
user_count: 11
site_count: 10
network_count: 1
dotorg_communication: true

### wp-dropins (1) ###

sunrise.php: true

### wp-active-theme ###

name: Twenty Nineteen (twentynineteen)
version: 1.4
author: the WordPress team
author_website: https://www.ads-software.com/
parent_theme: none
theme_features: automatic-feed-links, title-tag, post-thumbnails, menus, html5, custom-logo, customize-selective-refresh-widgets, wp-block-styles, align-wide, editor-styles, editor-style, editor-font-sizes, editor-color-palette, responsive-embeds, widgets
theme_path: /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/themes/twentynineteen

### wp-themes-inactive (13) ###

Flash Pro AsystYOU Technology: version: 1.0.1570210944, author: ThemeGrill
Flash Pro Pioneer Graphics: version: 1.0.1557245803, author: ThemeGrill
Flash Pro: version: 2.2.9, author: ThemeGrill
Suffice Pro Partners AsystYOU: version: 2.0.1.1572893572, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro AsystYOU: version: 2.0.1.1570821178, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro Ben Hill Chamber: version: 2.0.1.1571236441, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro Ben Hill County Georgia: version: 2.0.1.1570720953, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro Southern PT: version: 1.0.1570062712, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro Vet Fitzgerald: version: 1.0.1562028240, author: Themegrill
Suffice Pro: version: 2.0.1, author: Themegrill
TotalBusiness (Shared by JOJOThemes.com): version: 1.00, author: Goodlayers
Twenty Seventeen: version: 2.2, author: the WordPress team
Twenty Sixteen: version: 2.0, author: the WordPress team

### wp-plugins-active (12) ###

All-in-One WP Migration: version: 7.11, author: ServMask (latest version: 7.14)
All-in-One WP Migration Multisite Extension: version: 3.85, author: ServMask (latest version: 3.87)
All In One SEO Pack: version: 3.3.3, author: Michael Torbert (latest version: 3.3.4)
Child Theme Configurator: version: 2.5.0, author: Lilaea Media (latest version: 2.5.2)
Everest Forms: version: 1.5.6, author: WPEverest (latest version: 1.5.10)
Health Check & Troubleshooting: version: 1.4.2, author: The www.ads-software.com community
Livemesh SiteOrigin Widgets: version: 2.5.7, author: Livemesh
Page Builder by SiteOrigin: version: 2.10.13, author: SiteOrigin
Really Simple SSL: version: 3.2.6, author: Rogier Lankhorst, Mark Wolters (latest version: 3.2.7)
SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle: version: 1.15.9, author: SiteOrigin
ThemeGrill Demo Importer: version: 1.6.0, author: ThemeGrill (latest version: 1.6.1)
WP Mail SMTP: version: 1.7.0, author: WPForms (latest version: 1.8.1)

### wp-plugins-inactive (16) ###

Akismet Anti-Spam: version: 4.1.2, author: Automattic (latest version: 4.1.3)
Braintree For WooCommerce: version: 3.0.9, author: Payment Plugins, [email protected] (latest version: 3.1.1)
Business Directory Plugin: version: 5.5.11, author: D. Rodenbaugh (latest version: 5.5.13.1)
Contact Form 7: version: 5.1.4, author: Takayuki Miyoshi (latest version: 5.1.6)
Flash Toolkit: version: 1.2.0, author: ThemeGrill
Goodlayers Importer: version: 1.0.0, author: Goodlayers
Goodlayers Portflio Post Type: version: 1.0.0, author: Goodlayers
Goodlayers Shortcode: version: 1.0, author: Goodlayers
Master Slider Pro: version: 3.2.14, author: averta
Popup Maker: version: 1.8.14, author: Popup Maker
Simple Tags: version: 2.5.5, author: Amaury BALMER (latest version: 2.5.7)
Suffice Toolkit: version: 1.0.4, author: ThemeGrill
TablePress: version: 1.9.2, author: Tobias B?thge
VarkTech Pricing Deals for WooCommerce: version: 2.0.1.1, author: Vark
WooCommerce: version: 3.8.1, author: Automattic
WordPress MU Domain Mapping: version: 0.5.5.1, author: Donncha O Caoimh

### wp-media ###

image_editor: WP_Image_Editor_GD
imagick_module_version: Not available
imagemagick_version: Not available
gd_version: bundled (2.1.0 compatible)
ghostscript_version: not available

### wp-server ###

server_architecture: Linux 4.4.0-1100-aws x86_64
httpd_software: Apache
php_version: 7.2.16 64bit
php_sapi: fpm-fcgi
max_input_variables: 1000
time_limit: 120
memory_limit: 256M
max_input_time: 300
upload_max_size: 40M
php_post_max_size: 40M
curl_version: 7.45.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2q
suhosin: false
imagick_availability: false
server-headers: 
	date: Mon, 13 Jan 2020 21:45:32 GMT
	server: Apache
	x-powered-by: PHP/7.2.16
	expires: Wed, 11 Jan 1984 05:00:00 GMT
	cache-control: Array
	link: <...>; rel="https://api.w.org/"
	x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
	x-mod-pagespeed: 1.13.35.2-0
	vary: Accept-Encoding
	content-encoding: gzip
	content-length: 6888
	content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
htaccess_extra_rules: false

### wp-database ###

extension: mysqli
server_version: 8.0.15
client_version: mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: 3591daad22de08524295e1bd073aceeff11e6579 $

### wp-constants ###

WP_HOME: undefined
WP_SITEURL: undefined
WP_CONTENT_DIR: /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content
WP_PLUGIN_DIR: /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/plugins
WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT: 256M
WP_DEBUG: false
WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY: true
WP_DEBUG_LOG: false
SCRIPT_DEBUG: false
WP_CACHE: false
CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_CSS: undefined
WP_LOCAL_DEV: undefined

### wp-filesystem ###

wordpress: writable
wp-content: not writable
uploads: writable
plugins: writable
themes: writable
    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    Ok I finally found something that is working, but I am concerned about the update this requires.

    I update permissions on wp-content to 775 and I am now able to update plugins. But I have three other WordPress servers running with the same configuration and the permissions on wp-content for all of those servers are set at 755 and I can apply updates without any issue.

    Anybody have a thought on what could be causing this?

    Who’s the owner/users though?

    Sometimes I’ll see a problem such as yours and, depending on my mood, I’ll either look at the ownerships or else check the present permissions then just set the ‘offender’ directory(ies) to 777 temporarily.

    The right way is to set the numbers on the directories while double-checking the owners but I get lazy mentally lazy and the 777 gets me there. Just don’t set things to 777 more than a few minutes while troubleshooting.

    It’s good to look up the recommended directory permissions and defer to the hardening WordPress document for the final recommendations.

    https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/hardening-wordpress/

    Thread Starter shspivey

    (@shspivey)

    I have looked at the owners/permissions and compared them back to other servers I have running. The ownership/permissions are the same as I have on other servers which all work fine. Something else has started causing this problem and I can’t figure out what that is. I had to set the plugins directory to 775 temporarily to get all my plugins updated. I’ll have to keep digging until I uncover the issue.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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