How to Change File and Folder Permissions
Changing file and folder permissions is an important part of the Thesis installation process. Following are instructions on how to do it with an FTP program on your computer. If you are using cPanel on your host’s server, consult the article “File Management Using cPanelFile Management Using cPanel” for instructions.
The details of changing file and folder permissions depends on the FTP program you are using. There are so many programs that describing how each one does it would be impractical. However, most change permissions the same way:
1. Right click on the file or folder on your server you want to work with.
2. Select “Get Info,” “Properties,” “Permissions” or similar wording.
3. Choose the permissions tab (if necessary) and type in the permissions as follows:
For the layout.php file: Numerical permissions are 666. If you have to click on boxes, the settings are: Owner-read write; Group-read write; Others-read write.
For the cache folder: Numerical permissions are 777. If you have to click on boxes, the settings are: Owner-read write execute; Group-read write execute; Others-read write execute.
4. Save the permissions. My program says “apply,” others may say “save” or something similar.
If these instructions don’t work for you, consult your FTP program’s help file. However…
Should you need further help, there’s a good article, “FTP Tutorial: Changing permissions with SmartFTP” that will point you in the right direction. Although specific to the SmartFTP program, the procedure is the same for most ftp programs.
I hope this article has been of help to you, even though it was a little generic. As always, your comments are welcome.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the great info on setting up Thesis. I would never have been able to make the necessary changes without your help.
Thanks for the help, Ben Walter
Mike
Should custom cache be 775?
Keith
I host with GODaddy. There are only 2 choices of groups:
Web user permissions (read, write, and execute)
Owner permissions (read,write, and execute)
there are not any for group, others or world, the way I’ve seen it written in other helpful tutorials in changing permissions.
So, should I have the layout.css set to:
Web user permissions (read, write, )
Owner permissions (read,write)
And the cache folder set to:
Web user permissions (read, write, and execute)
Owner permissions (read,write, and execute)
I’m trying to install Thesis 1.6 so I can have those nice drop downs in the nav bar.
thanks!
Chris
Yep, got it working! thanks!
Chris
Hi, Chris,
I’m glad you got it working!
You probably would benefit from working on your files through FTP rather than through GoDaddy’s control panel. An FTP program is a lot easier to use and lets you perform file-related tasks a lot more easily. There are some good (and free) FTP programs available for both Mac and Windows. I’ve got a couple of articles on Thesis Theme Tools that describe them:
http://thesisthemetools.com/ftp-programs-and-text-editors-for-windows-users/
http://thesisthemetools.com/ftp-programs-and-text-editors-for-the-mac/
If you are a Mac user, you might want to also look at Filezilla, also free:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25092/filezilla
Yes, I will download an FTP client and start using that. Go Daddy’s interface is just too cumbersome. I use a PC so I’m going to check the first link you listed.
Thanks again!
Chris
Thanks so much for this – I was stuck on this part and you explained it perfectly!