.htaccess file “not writable”

  • When trying to change the permalinks for my blog, I receive a message that says: “If your .htaccess file were writable, we could do this automatically, but it isn’t so these are the mod_rewrite rules you should have in your .htaccess file. Click in the field and press CTRL + a to select all.”

    I am fairly certain that my .htaccess file IS in fact writable. Here is some information that may be relevant:

    • The WordPress core files have been moved to a different directory than they were originally installed in, and the WordPress Address and Blog Address have been updated to the correct location in the General settings.
    • The index.php and .htaccess files are located at [webroot]/Blog, and the core WordPress files are located at [webroot]/wp
    • The .htaccess file permission is set to 644. I have tried it as high as 777 (don’t worry, I changed it back), but that did not allow it to be modified by WordPress.
    • The only major difference between this particular installation of WordPress and another one (in a different location) on my server is that the WordPress core files are in a different location from the main index.php and .htaccess files.

    I did find another post in this forum from a few months back where the same problem was described, but I did not see a solution. That post is here. One difference between this post and my setup: I currently do not have any plugins installed (other than the 2 delivered ones) or activated.

    I am still able to manually edit my .htaccess file, so I am not completely unable to change my permalinks, but I would like figure out why they are not writable by WordPress, when it appears (to me) that they should be writable.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Thread Starter Jeremy Pry

    (@jpry)

    I’ve discovered something interesting: I moved my .htaccess and index.php back to [webroot] (again, updating the WordPress general settings), and now that I’ve done that, the .htaccess file is writable by WordPress again. Is it possible that there is some type of bug with trying to write to .htaccess when it is not in a parent directory, but rather in a different child directory of the parent?

    To recap:

    • Index.php and .htaccess located in [webroot]/Blog, and WordPress core located in [webroot]/wp, .htaccess is “not writable”.
    • Index.php and .htaccess located in [webroot], and WordPress core located in [webroot]/wp, .htaccess is writable.

    I am just trying to understand here:

    Not writable:
    root/Blog/index.php
    root/Blog/.htaccess
    root/wp/[all-other-wordpress-files]

    Writable:
    root/index.php
    root/.htaccess
    root/wp/[all-other-wordpress-files]

    Thread Starter Jeremy Pry

    (@jpry)

    @jimisaacs

    Yes, that is correct.

    I am pretty sure WordPress does not support the kind of setup you described in the first scenario, and anyone please correct me if I’m wrong.

    Try something like this instead:

    root/Blog/index.php
    root/Blog/.htaccess
    root/Blog/wp/[all-other-wordpress-files]

    Thread Starter Jeremy Pry

    (@jpry)

    @jimisaacs

    Thanks for that information. Could you point me in the right direction to find resources that describe what the possible scenarios are for having the WordPress core in a different location from the index.php and .htaccess file?

    yeah please point out the right direction for .htaccess file.i am unable to find it .please help out

    I think the most helpful info on the correct .htaccess file settings can be found here:

    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Using_Permalinks

    and

    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_File_Permissions

    and the best one is here:

    https://www.thatphpgirl.com/changing-your-wordpress-url-fantastico-install/
    The last link just above may not sound the most releavant but is a perfect source.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • The topic ‘.htaccess file “not writable”’ is closed to new replies.