Drupal - The directory sites/default/files exists but is not writable and could not be made writable

Question

When I try to add "Public file system path" and "Private file system path" in Administration > Configuration > Media > File System in my drupal site, I get "The directory sites/default/files exists but is not writable and could not be made writable" Error. But it is working fine in localhost.

The permission for the folders is 755, I changed it to 777. But still it didnt work.

I also changed the owner following some blogs using: chown -R apache:apache private

But it didnt help either.

Please Help. Thanks in advance.

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Use "chmod -R 777" command to give default folder write permission. If you are not the super user then append sudo keyword — Viswanath Polaki, Apr 13 '15 at 10:20
Try this command chmod a+w sites/default Source: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-drupal-on-a-virtual-server-running-centos-6--2 — Viswanath Polaki, Apr 13 '15 at 10:27
I have set folder permissions to 777, But still I get same error. — Aasim Hussain Khan, Apr 13 '15 at 10:33
Hi, try this command chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html/drupal Source: https://www.howtoforge.com/centos-7-drupal-installation — Viswanath Polaki, Apr 13 '15 at 10:54

Paul Bönisch · Answer 1 · 2015-04-17T14:31:06.637

1

Try to replace .htaccess in sites/default/files with the original one or

try to remove .htaccess in sites/default/files or

try to change .htaccess in sites/default/files from Options None Options +FollowSymLinks to #Options None #Options +FollowSymLinks

You could try same with .htaccess in Drupal root

edited Apr 17 '15 at 14:31

answered Apr 15 '15 at 15:03

Paul Bönisch

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adding # unfortunately didn't helped me – Eugene Pavlov Jun 11 '15 at 14:21

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '22 at 11:24

I am too late for this answer but may help someone who searches for it.

If SELinux security is enabled and there is not a "rw" in the context for the files/ directory it will not be writable no matter which group, user, or Unix permissions are granted.

To see these "hidden" settings:

ls -laZ sites/default

drwxr-sr-x. apache www unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0 .
drwxr-xr-x. apache www unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0 ..
-rwxr-sr-x. apache www unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0         default.settings.php
drwxrwsr-x. apache www unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_content_t:s0 files
-rwxr-sr-x. apache www unconfined_u:object_r:httpd_sys_rw_content_t:s0 settings.php

To change the settings on files/ so it is writable:

sudo chcon -R -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t files

When the install is done reset the context using the same command with the original "http_sys_content_t" context.

FYI - This command will also be necessary to enable writes when installing themes under the "all" directory.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '16 at 12:44

0

Probably you need to run restorecon on the directory for eg:

restorecon -rv default/

answered Jul 25 '16 at 12:44

Dhruv Tyagi

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 07 '17 at 21:29

0

chmod -R 777 sites/default/files/

^ worked for me, however I had no private file system path.

answered Mar 07 '17 at 21:29

Bill Shannon

1
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Drupal - The directory sites/default/files exists but is not writable and could not be made writable

4 Answers4