WebbyJackif you're like I was and your plugins won't auto update with errors that may include messages about not being able to create the directory, temporary file or just a completely blank screen then hopefully this may help.
I wasted part of my life Googling umpteen solutions and going round in circles with no joy. In doing so i've compiled a list of the solutions I found to save you the trouble. 10 out of the 11 didn't work for me, but you only need to find the 1 that does and you're laughing. I hope your 1 is in the list below.
So firstly i'd strongly suggest upgrading to the latest version of WordPress (3.2.1 at the time of this post), which given your auto-update isn't working you'll need to do manually.
then try these....
SOLUTION 1 :
add these lines to your wp-config.php
define('WP_TEMP_DIR', ABSPATH .'wp-content/upgrade');
define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', (0755 & ~ umask()));
define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', (0644 & ~ umask()));
also try it with just the 2nd & 3rd lines
(this is the one that worked for me and saved my sanity after i'd tried all the following 10! It may well need be used in combination with some of the others, especially number 3)
SOLUTION 2 :
CHMOD all the folders to 777
(not a great idea as leaves you wide open security wise but you could do it briefly to see if it works and then put back afterwards. If it does work you know it's a permissions thing and should look to fix that)
SOLUTION 3 :
CHOWN the folders to match the access rights the web browser will be using thereby allowing it to write to respective folders
CHGRP the folders to match the access rights the web browser will be using thereby allowing it to write to respective folders
you will need to find out which group and ownership the web browser uses to do this but that shouldn't be hard
(sort of redundant if you do solution 2 but the better way without needing to do chmod 777 to everything)
SOLUTION 4 :
delete the upgrade folder
next time you try it will automatically be re-created
SOLUTION 5 :
add this code to your class-wp-filesystem-direct.php file
instructions :
http://sebthom.de/54-solved-wordpress-25-one-click-plugin-update-problem-could-not-create-directory/
SOLUTION 6 :
Create a temporary directory under httpdocs, such as:
tmp or wp-content\tmp
CHMOD this directory to 777.
Add one of the following lines to your wp-config.php (try both seperately):
define('WP_TEMP_DIR', ABSPATH . 'tmp');
or
define('WP_TEMP_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content/tmp');
SOLUTION 7 :
disable this plugin if you have it - AskApache Password Protect
SOLUTION 8 :
disable all plugins. If it works re-enable them one by one (and then try adding a new plugin) until you find the guilty party.
SOLUTION 9 :
change the FTP your server uses from Pure-FTP to ProFTP
SOLUTION 10 :
make sure you are not up to your limit of space on your hosting
SOLUTION 11 :
turn PHP's safe mode off
http://www.webhostgear.com/166.html
if none of those work then I can only suggest a) curse the fact WordPress haven't tightened this up in the first place so it isn't so flaky, b) remove the whole shebang and start again from a nice clean server, c) get back on Google and go around in circles
