How to Fix ‘Unable to create directory’ error when uploading image into WordPress

Categories: Web Development

This article is a little outdated. Please check the updated version of the tutorial on how to fix the unable to create directory error.

This post has a textual and video instructions showing how to fix the WordPress “Unable to create directory” error when uploading/inserting image into WordPress.

I started getting the “Unable to create directory /wp-content/uploads/2008/12. Is its parent directory writable by the server?” error when uploading or inserting image into a WordPress post just after upgrading to WordPress 2.7. First I thought it is a directory permission related error so I tried changing the permission of my ‘upload’ directory to 777 (which you shouldn’t have to do) but I was still having the same problem. After trying many things I was able to fix it using the following method.

Log into your WordPress Admin account.
Go to ‘Miscellaneous’ Settings options from the ‘Settings’ menu.
In the Miscellaneous Settings put wp-content/uploads in the “Store uploads in this folder” text box.
Save the Changes by hitting the “Save Changes” button and you are done.

Fix WordPress Image Upload Error: Video Instructions

Checkout the comments below for more tips.

If you have done everything explained here and it doesn’t help then it is most likely a server configuration issue. Contact your hosting provider and see if you can get help from them or look for a better hosting solution.

#1 by hs99 on June 4, 2013 - 6:05 am

Thank you for your help. Your tip fixed my issue.

#2 by Brett on April 19, 2013 - 6:42 pm

Thank you!!! I was going crazy! One little setting ruined hours. lol

#3 by Newbee on January 12, 2013 - 2:51 pm

Thanks a lot. I was able to fix the issue after reading this post.

#4 by Jen on September 11, 2012 - 9:36 pm

Thanks!!

#5 by André on May 9, 2012 - 12:54 pm

I’ve been very stressed with this.
I searched a lot and nothing worked for me but now I figure it out! (At least for me)

Try this if none of the previous solutions worked for you:

1 -Go to PHP MY ADMIN to see your DB where do you have WordPress installed.
2 – At the top, click in the two tools, in english will be something like “OPTIONS” or “OPERATIONS”.
3 – select the AUTO INCREMENT and save/execute.

#6 by Anthony on April 4, 2012 - 7:43 am

Saw this tip today it was a great help.

Thank you

#7 by Anbarasan k on January 28, 2012 - 8:41 am

I searched plenty of other sites to fix this. But nothing worked. But Your solutions fixed it in a min.!!!!.

I am very happy…

Thaks lot …

#8 by Deb on January 24, 2012 - 3:00 am

Thanks! It worked! It’s so great when you find a solution that quick and to the point without volumes of info to wade through! Made my day. (I know, I need to shut off the computer more often…)

One thing, it wasn’t under ‘Misc’ under Settings, but ‘Media’ under Settings.. Prob mentioned in another comment, but thought I’d mention it anyway.

Thanks again..

#9 by amy on January 15, 2012 - 2:38 pm

you rock! thanks so much!

#10 by Hindi on December 4, 2011 - 6:29 pm

Thank for your tips. It works

#11 by Mergim on October 15, 2011 - 6:07 am

Oh very Very Thanks

#12 by Online jewelry on September 9, 2011 - 6:29 pm

Thanks very much, you really helped me solve this problem.
Two thumbs up for you…..

#13 by devarshi on March 10, 2011 - 8:18 pm

Thanks alot. I searched plenty of other sites and nothing worked. But Your video fixed it in a min.!!!!.

#14 by y8 on March 10, 2011 - 3:31 am

Thanks for giving me the useful information. I think I need it. Keep up your work. Thank you

#15 by James Minh on November 23, 2010 - 10:18 am

Thank for your tips. I have the same problem and I thought it was my fault when moving my blog to a new hosting. But in my dashboard, I don’t see the ‘Miscellaneous’ Settings options from the ‘Settings’ menu.
I still look for the way to solve my problem. I will try some methods suggested by some others commenter here in your blog.
Thanks
.-= James Minh´s last blog ..Earn cash working from Home – How Much Can You Win With Paid Surveys =-.

#16 by Acneend on November 9, 2010 - 10:50 am

It works like a charm! thanks

#17 by End Acne on November 9, 2010 - 10:48 am

Thank for the tip, I have fixed the unable to create directory errors
.-= End Acne´s last blog ..Acne Therapy- How To Fight Micro Organism =-.

#18 by Eva on October 27, 2010 - 7:54 pm

Thanks Ryan from the post #34 !!!

For me works the same!

http://www.mydomain.com/wp-content/uploads

ta-daaaah …

#19 by John on September 16, 2010 - 8:43 am

I tried changing the permissions to 777, that didn’t work either….

Simple fix – delete the wp-content/uploads directory, then create a new one with the same name. It works with permissions set to 755 and 775, so you don’t have to create a security hole by setting it to 777

#20 by Ivy on September 15, 2010 - 12:42 am

Hi, Your permissions should never be 777. This maybe why this is having an error many server block files using 777 permission as these are major security risks for your site. The permission for folders should be 755. You can read more about file permissions here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions

#21 by ltheuma on September 14, 2010 - 9:25 am

i have installed 3.0.1, have changed to wp-content/uploads, permission is at 777 and still getting the same error

#22 by aishwarya on August 30, 2010 - 2:39 pm

thanks! i had this problem ever since i migrated servers. nice work mate
.-= aishwarya´s last blog ..Watch Chance Pe Dance movie online =-.

#23 by Ivy on August 25, 2010 - 11:11 pm

Hi Chris, It looks like these settings moved in WordPress 3.0. They are now located under “Media” in the “Setting Menu”.

#24 by Chris on August 25, 2010 - 12:26 pm

Hello

I have just installed word press 3.0.1 and am having the error message as above. It sounds silly but in word press 3.0.1 I cannot find Miscellaneous Settings under settings on my dash board.

Does any one know where i can find miscellaneous settings to correct my upload problem.

Regards

Chris

#25 by Leigh on July 29, 2010 - 4:30 pm

Thanks so much for this post! I recently moved hosts, and I was baffled at what could possibly be wrong. The path was the entire server path. Once I changed it as you said, everything worked perfectly again.
.-= Leigh´s last blog ..Tips to avoid the summer reading slump =-.

#26 by agon on July 12, 2010 - 6:18 pm

there is another fixing trick…change the permission on the wp-content directory to 766, 777 or 767…when u upload the pic… then change it as it was 755…

#27 by Troy on July 4, 2010 - 1:12 pm

Thanks. It worked perfectly!

#28 by Ryan on June 24, 2010 - 2:17 pm

Just found the issue.

Even though we are told to put in the
relative path
/wp-content/uploads

it didn’t work.. what did was to put in your domain name before making it an absolute path

such as
http://www.mydomain.com/wp-content/uploads

and ta-dah ..it worked!

#29 by Jonny on June 22, 2010 - 2:58 pm

lifesaver, thanks.
.-= Jonny´s last blog ..ShellsuitZombie Magazine ISSUE 1 Launch party w00t w00t =-.

#30 by Ryan on June 10, 2010 - 11:04 pm

For those of you that get this error message after having a blog transferred to you, this fix works like a charm. Because sometimes when transferring it keeps the file path of the original owners server.

Thanks for the quick and perfect fix!

#31 by Morten Croatia on June 10, 2010 - 10:01 am

Thanks for small guide, it solved my problem (-:

What it think is really strange, i have several pages on same template, by the same hoster, this problem only occored one my swedish page, the rest works with out this problem?

Any this was one of the most easy problems to solve, thanks once again

Morten
.-= Morten Croatia´s last blog ..Costs in Croatia | Holiday budget Croatia =-.

#32 by Tim on June 9, 2010 - 3:34 pm

I had this problem and spent several hours reading posts about with no luck. My permissions were right and the upload folder path was correct.

I realised that it was a SELinux issue for me. If you run SELinux then you will need to run the command below to allow apache (httpd) to execute particular PHP commands, including creating new files and folders. Here is the command:

chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_t

Hope that helps someone else. This was driving me crazy and I was about ready to give up and uninstall WordPress. Glad it didn’t come to that.

#33 by Custom Dog Tags on May 31, 2010 - 9:27 am

Thanks a lot. I have now solved the problem on my dog tags blog.

#34 by admin on May 19, 2010 - 7:13 am

Did you check that the directory permissions are correct?

#35 by Jordan on May 19, 2010 - 3:03 am

I have tried everything you walked through a number of times and am still getting the error message. Could be a problem with my server/host?
.-= Jordan´s last blog ..castles in the sky =-.

#36 by Saef Reyad on May 10, 2010 - 9:58 am

ok i did it finally, thanks

#37 by Saef Reyad on May 10, 2010 - 9:45 am

i did this but am still having the same problem, is there is anything else i can do.

thanks

#38 by Allin on May 10, 2010 - 9:14 am

Cheers. I had a full path of webspace/httpdocs/example.com/wp-content/uploads in the uploads box. restoring the default worked.

#39 by Troy on May 2, 2010 - 12:03 am

Worked great for me, thanks for the help.
.-= Troy´s last blog ..Telling Your Family About A Mental Health Issue =-.

#40 by admin on April 23, 2010 - 7:30 pm

No comment… LOL

#41 by Glanzer on April 23, 2010 - 11:59 am

This didn’t work for me, but I now know why… I am building a site for someone and they’ve exceeded their 5 MB quota. Yes, someone opted for a plan that allows only 5MB of storage space.
.-= Glanzer´s last blog ..My Dream Job =-.

#42 by Patricia on April 13, 2010 - 11:56 am

Wish I had seen your post earlier – it worked like a charm and gosh so simple.

I had seen a few other posts where they talked about changing the path in the the mySQL database and the phpmyadmin. Although I tried , I was confused as could be.

I’m now a raving fan & will be following your blogs, tweets and everywhere else you are.
You totally rock!
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..10 Foods That Can Boost Metabolism =-.

#43 by Special Tips on April 4, 2010 - 3:26 am

thanks very much, it works
.-= Special Tips´s last blog ..[News] ILGA Congress Repotedly Still Held in Secret Place in Surabaya, Indonesia =-.

#44 by Eric Transue on March 30, 2010 - 2:48 pm

Thank you for your help. Your tip fixed my issue.
.-= Eric Transue´s last blog ..Gary Vaynerchuk Says Do The Shit You Love =-.

#45 by Abdul Cholik on February 9, 2010 - 7:42 am

Thank you very much for your tip.
I have fixed my problem. May I post this article on my blog so that my friend could be able to ffix the same problem ? I’ll link my post to this article.
Regards

#46 by Recokiao on January 25, 2010 - 6:52 pm