Can’t set permalinks to “Post name” – only “Plain”

The only way I can get the pages to link is to set the permalinks to “Plain”

If that works, then try reading Using_Permalinks before setting a custom permalink structure again.

@t-p thanks, but sorry that page doesn’t help…it’s too generic for the problem at hand. I am in the same situation. Here’s a little background and elaboration.

I setup a fresh installation of Ubuntu on the free tier of Google Cloud (https://cloud.google.com/) and installed Word Press. I used the technique outlined by Chris Titus in his video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJdypOqlL4) and everything seems to work right except the permalinks. Like the OP I have setup my .htaccess correctly but nothing works except the Plain permalinks. If I change it to anything else and then try to create a new page or post I get the red bar that says “Updating Failed” and it won’t save a draft or publish…I have no choice but to discard the page/post. If I change it back to Plain, bingo it works. Below is the contents of my .htaccess file. The file is in the /var/www/html folder along side the rest of the files. I’ve tried various permissions settings on the .htaccess file, but that has had no affect on it. I’m sure WordPress is writing to the file because after I go into Permalinks and do a Save Changes the file is altered (verified by commenting out a line, then clicking Save Changes and the comment line is now uncommented, so WordPress did change it!) So, I’m at a total loss! Is there somewhere else to look? I don’t think the problem lies with the .htaccess file. What is very odd is that if I do a “Quick Draft” via the Dashboard widget a Post will go in as a Draft, but if I go in and try to make any changes to that post under Posts I get the same red error as shown. Not sure if Quick Draft does something different than going in to Posts and doing Add New and saving as a Draft…but that way doesn’t work at all. Very strange.

Below are screenshots to illustrate.

Error: https://i.imgur.com/Pkruv11.png

WWWFolder: https://i.imgur.com/uZRfGz3.png

.htaccess: https://i.imgur.com/plsXz1w.png

One last bit of info. I installed the Health Check plugin and under Filesystem Permissions it says that that the Main WordPress directory is Not Writable. In the screenshot above it shows the permissions, I’m not sure which directory is the “Main WordPress” directory, assume it is /var/www/html and if so I would say it IS writable, but am I wrong? Maybe this is the problem…suggestions?

View post on imgur.com

Thanks!
Randy

Just to be sure, I did the steps outlined in the article, and had the same result. Since this site is working on a brand name hosting service, but not on the new private server, I’m inclined to think it is something with the apache settings, or permissions, however I can’t dig that deep by myself since the server is locked down pretty well – so it is even harder when I have to relay the information for the fix. When I run Site Health i get:

-The required module, gd, is not installed, or has been disabled.
– The REST API encountered an error
– Could not complete a loopback request

Could one of these things be the cause?

@eugeneormktg I also think it’s an apache, Linux, PHP or permission setting. I just don’t know where to start troubleshooting further than what I have based on web searches. I am good with the Linux command line and modifying files, but I just don’t know where else go, I’ve tried the common fixes that Google brings up. Don’t know if there’s a php.ini error, a .conf file, or something else. I have access to the entire virtual box, so i can poke around and do whatever I need to (I’m root), just need some guidance as to what to look for.

I get a similar REST API error in System Health, see link below.

View post on imgur.com

BTW, not sure who you use for a host, but you should be able to go into CPanel or something and verify that you have a .htaccess file and look at it. You should have access to a File Manager or something and be able to see the structure to make sure it’s in the right directory (www root) and even see permissions…maybe even right click to “Edit” it.

Randy

@brewtrader – Unfortunately my only access is through FTP (and WP dashboard), this is a unique situation because they are a medical group and keep everything really tight. There is no traditional remote access like cpanel. The purpose of this website, is only to host the pages that send forms, so that they are pointed at their in-house IP, so the email never goes out onto the internet. They are willing to do whatever needs to happen to get it running, but they need me to tell them what to do, because they are strictly IT, not developers. Just wanted to provide more background, in case it rings a bell. Thank you for your insight.

@eugeneormktg Ok, I got mine fixed! I had to run “a2enmod rewrite” on the Apache server and that did it. This wasn’t in the turorial I followed, found it on the page linked below.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-can-i-fix-my-wordpress-permalinks

Maybe there’s something on this site that can help you. Wish I could do more.

Post back what your fix was.

Good luck!
Randy

As indicated in the article I linked, mod_rewrite is needed for pretty permalinks.

Try contacting your hosting provider and ask why permalinks don’t work on their sserver.

@t-p in my case mod_rewrite was there, see the extensive info provided, so this obviously isn’t the answer to ALL situations. As you see from my resolution, it took more that than. Now, your point about contacting the hosting provider is valid, but @eugeneormktg has indicated that he needed to provide them with more instructions on what to fix. Hopefully the link I provided, along with your tips, may be enough to get the SA’s at his company to fix this issue.

Thanks,
Randy

This has been resolved using the steps in this thread. Thanks everyone!!

@eugeneormktg ,

Glad its sorted ??

@brewtrader ,

If the troubleshooting already posted made no difference for you, then, as per the Forum Welcome, please post your own topic. A lot more people will see your post, and that way you stand a good chance of getting the assistance you want. Despite any similarity in symptoms, your issue is likely to be completely different because of possible differences in physical servers, accounts, hosts, plugins, theme, configurations, etc. Thus one problem, on one setup is not indicative of the functionality and reliability of an application as a whole.

@eugeneormktg
Question for you, was your problem sorted using the steps I provided?
Thanks,
Randy