Please enter your FTP credentials 📝 WordPress

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WordPress can’t write directly to its files (ownership differs from the PHP user), so it falls back to asking for FTP details.

Seen on: WordPress

Meaning

WordPress uses the “direct” method only if files are owned by the PHP process user. On self-managed servers fix ownership; FS_METHOD direct forces it but still needs write permission.

Common causes

  • WordPress files owned by a different user than PHP-FPM/Apache
  • Mixed ownership after manual uploads
  • Shared hosting setups requiring FTP

⚡ Quick fix

  1. chown the WordPress directory to the PHP user
  2. Optionally define('FS_METHOD', 'direct') once permissions are right

Detailed fix by platform

WordPress

  1. php
    // wp-config.php (after fixing ownership)
define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

Linux

  1. bash
    ps -o user= -C php-fpm8.3 | head -1   # PHP user
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

How to diagnose

  1. PHP user — Process owner
  2. Files — ls -l wp-content

🔧 Still not fixed?

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