Just thought i would add I have done this with 2 different plugins and had to do the same thing
QuForm (IPhorms)
Wp-SEO (Yoast)
I personally use Yoast on a couple sites and I did not have any issues upgrading. I am starting to think that the issue may be how how the plugins are installed.
Were these two plugins installed using FTP like filezilla for dreamweaver or was they installed using WP installer?
have you always had to enter your FTP information when you upgrade anything? have you ever changed the FTP username before at any point in time?
Always to plug in updates via wp admin and always via ftp in wp admin.
Never store my ftp password so do not allow auto updates to occur.
all plugins are always installed via the wp admin plugin section
FTP user and password are the same
🙂
When did you last do the yoast update. I know they have had issues within the plugin. Did you update to the latest 3.06 after the 4.4 wp install or prior?
I did forget to say that after it fails update Wp puts up the maintenance file and i then have to go direct to the server and remove it.
The maintenance file being left behind is a tall tale that WP is failing upgrade due to something. Almost everytime a fail happens, it is caused by a plugin or theme.
This is why it is important to ensure that all a default theme is activated and all plugins are deactivated before upgrading. Heck if you have to. completely remove the plugin directory before upgrade.
using FTP is a great secure way to upgrade but if the server permissions are not set correctly, FTP will not give WP the permissions it needs to complete a task and thus fail.
WP reports error and also says it has updated when it hasn’t
WP puts maintenance file up because of incomplete update
An error occurred while updating Yoast SEO: Could not create directory. /wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/
All updates have been completed.
Syslog shows over 1000 lines of log display all chmods etc correctly and always falls down on this line
Dec 9 19:16:03 W1 pure-ftpd: (me@localhost) [DEBUG] Command [mkd] [/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo]
Dec 9 19:16:03 W1 pure-ftpd: (me@localhost) [ERROR] Can’t create directory: File exists
I have tried with all relevent tree folders on 777 and still the same 🙂
A message of “Can’t create directory: File exists” suggests that the plugin is already installed on the site or didn’t get deleted properly or something.
Delete the plugin manually and reinstall it normally.
Are you able to do a manual upgrade? Since you prefer using FTP, a manual upgrade would be in order instead.
Refer to https://codex.wordpress.org/Updating_WordPress#Manual_Update
Hi Guys
Here is what I have done
Copied database (In case of issues)
renamed the root directory for the site on the server
Created a new directory for the site with the original folder name
Used ftp to copy the back up of the site (which was taken before the upgrade to 4.4) completely to the new directory
That now puts it back to 4.3
Told to update the database again (which i did)
Went to update the plugins again for Yoast and google maps
Updates worked fine (WP4.3)
Now if i rename that root site directory and reinstate the site that was updated to 4.4 and go to the plugins it fails to update.
I have full access to the servers via ssh and webmin as i run the severs myself.
Unless I am mistaken, if it Wp can do all the plug in updates in 4.3 but fails when WP is updated to 4.4 (when all folder permissions are identical) then there cannot be any issues with permissions for any of the folders and there might be something amiss in the WP 4.4 upgrade.
ı have the same issue. I have installed some plugins manually by FTP with an FTP aydogan@….. I have upgraded all plugins from within WP and had no issue.
Then I have upgraded 4.4 in TURKISH from the WP Dashboard. It did not ask me the ftp account.
Then I have noticed 3 plugins upgrades. And tried to upgrade. I got the same error as ‘plugin directory cannot be created’ Then I noticed that wp-config file has FTP credentials at the last 3 lines. (Do not ask me why that stuod thing has been done without notice) There FTP user was ozgur@….
I have deleted those 3 lines. Then I re tried upgradin the plug-ins. When WP asked me the FTP credentials I have entered the one with aydogan@…. It downloaded the plugin, extracted, tried to install but I got the same error…
What should I do now? Shall I try re-installing the WORDPRESS TURKISH From the DASHBOARD or would it give me a big time problem since it could not create any directories needed by WP CORE? Shall I go for manual upgrade?
Appreciated if you could support.
@aydoganarkis: If you require assistance then, as per the Forum Welcome, please post your own topic.
Same issue for me…
Updates several sites to WP 4.4 and can now no longer update plugins.
My file permissions are fine. I found that if I uninstall and delete the plugin in question, it will then reinstall (and create the directory) fine, but that’s pretty troublesome.
