Title: Automatic update failure Last modified: August 22, 2016 --- # Automatic update failure * [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/) * Hi I’ve hit a problem automatically updating from 4.0 to 4.0.1. The update fails with the following message: * “The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update- core.php” * I’ve run auto update on the same site many times before with no problems, and two other sites on the same server auto updated perfectly. * Can anyone suggest a solution, please? * Best, K Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/page/2/?output_format=md) * Moderator [Jan Dembowski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jdembowski/) * (@jdembowski) * Forum Moderator and Brute Squad * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505275) * That should have worked but try manually updating just to be safe. * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Updating_WordPress#Manual_Update](http://codex.wordpress.org/Updating_WordPress#Manual_Update) * The message makes me think something changed regarding your file and directory permission. Check that too. * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions](http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions) * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505296) * Hi * Thanks for your reply. The auto install was definitely not working — it reported‘ Installation failed’ each time. * I’ve done a manual update for now, but there’s still an underlying problem. After the manual update, I tried an auto re-update to see if the problem reoccurred, and it did. So the problem’s not fixed. * As you say, it seems to be about file permissions. Does anyone have any advice on how to track down the source of the problem, please? * Thanks! * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505315) * did you follow the instructions on updating or just hit the shiny button? you may have encountered problems if you didn’t deactivate your plugins first… * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505319) * Hi — Thanks for your suggestion. I was just hitting the button (it’s always worked in the past!). However, I’ve just tried again with all the plugins deactivated, and I still get the same problem (same error message “The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update-core.php”). So it doesn’t look like a plugin issue. 🙁 * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505320) * cool, well at least it’s given you a full error message to work with. * what are the permissions on update-core.php? * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505321) * update-core.php is set to 0664 (same as all files). * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505322) * should be 0644 not 0664… * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505323) * every file in that directory should be 0644… * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505324) * Thanks. I flipped all the files in admin/includes/ over to 0644, but the problem still remains. Same error message – inconsistent file permissions on update-core. php. 🙁 * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505325) * what are the permissions on the directory that those files are in? * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505326) * wp-admin/ 0775 wp-admin/includes/ 0775 * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505329) * they should 755. * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505401) * Hi — All my directories are now set to 775 and files to 644, but the problem’s still there. One-click update fails with message: * “The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update- core.php” * I have two other blogs on the same server that auto update fine, and this one did till I this last update. No other changes to the site except for content ( text) and plugin updates. * Does anyone have any more suggestions for debugging this, please? * [jack randall](https://wordpress.org/support/users/theotherlebowski/) * (@theotherlebowski) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505402) * 755 not 775! * Thread Starter [kitfreeman](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kitfreeman/) * (@kitfreeman) * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/#post-5505403) * Doh! Sorry — it was a typo! All the directories are 755. All the files 644. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Automatic update failure’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [update problem](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/update-problem/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 24 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [kernowmonster](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kernowmonster/) * Last activity: [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/automatic-update-failure-3/page/2/#post-5505615) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics