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How to fix Upload failed error when writing file to disk in WordPress

Are you seeing the error 'Upload:Error writing file to disk' when uploading files in WordPress? This common error can be very frustrating for novice users. In this article, we will show you how to fix “Upload:Failed to write file to disk” error in WordPress.

How to fix Upload failed error when writing file to disk in WordPress

What causes the cannot write file to disk error in WordPress?

This error can occur due to a number of reasons. However, the most common is incorrect folder permissions.

Every file and folder on your website has a set of permissions. Your web server controls access to files based on these permissions.

Incorrect permissions to a folder can take away the ability to write files to the server. This means that your web server cannot create or add new files to that particular folder.

If you try to upload images or any other file from the WordPress admin area, you will receive one of the following error messages:

  • WordPress could not write to disk
  • WordPress could not load due to an error writing the file to disk
  • Unable to create directory wp-content/uploads/2016/03. Is its parent directory writable by the server?

Failed to load loading while writing to disk error in WordPress

First, you need to connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client.

For this tutorial, we are using the free FileZilla FTP client. If you are using some other FTP client, it might look a bit different.

Once you're connected, you need to right click on the wp-content folder and select file permissions.

How to fix Upload failed error when writing file to disk in WordPress

This will open the file permissions dialog in your FTP client. It will show you the file permissions for owner, group, and public.

How to fix Upload failed error when writing file to disk in WordPress

You must enter 755 in the numeric value field.

After that, you need to check the box next to 'Remember yourself in subdirectories' .

Finally, you have to click on 'Apply to directories only' option.

Click the OK button to continue.

Your FTP client will now set the folder permissions to 755 and apply them to all subfolders within the wp content. This includes file folders where all your images are stored.

You also want to make sure the file permissions for individual files in your wp content folder are correct.

Once again, right click on the wp-content folder and select file permissions. This time we are going to change the permissions of the files.

Enter 644 in the numeric value and then check the box next to 'Remember yourself in subdirectories' .

Finally, you have to click on 'Apply to files only' option.

Click the OK button to continue. Your FTP client will now set file permissions to 644 for all files in the wp-content folder.

Now you can visit your WordPress site and try to upload files.

If you still see the error, you will need to contact your WordPress hosting provider and ask them to empty the temporary files directory.

WordPress uploads your images using PHP, which first saves the uploads to a temporary directory on your web server. After that it moves them to your WordPress uploads folder.

If this temporary directory is full or misconfigured, WordPress will not be able to write the file to disk.

This temporary folder is located on your server, and in most cases you cannot access it via FTP. You will need to contact your web host and ask them to flush it for you.

We hope this article helped you resolve the "Upload:Error writing file to disk" error in WordPress. You can also check out our guide on how to fix common WordPress image issues.

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