Support » Plugin: Wordfence Security - Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security » Could not create directory during installation

  • Resolved misflix

    (@misflix)


    My site is infected. I tried installing your amazing plugin but “Could not create directory. /home/content/14/6366214/html/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/” I was also told not to update WordPress until the infection has been taken care of so I’m using an older version.

    Would you be able to help me resolve the issue? Thank you so much.

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Is someone working on this for you, cleaning the infection?

    tim

    Thread Starter misflix

    (@misflix)

    No one is currently working on this. I just found out about this an hour ago. I went to Reddit and asked what to do and they highly recommended your plugin. I was under the impression that the Wordfence plugin would scan my site and inform me where the malware is located. Did I misunderstand what the plugin would do?

    As of now, the plugin is having issues installing on site. I haven’t directly installed it using an FTP server, I have only tried through WP.

    Thread Starter misflix

    (@misflix)

    I have tried installing it via FTP and it’s also denying the transfer that way as well. Should I contact the host of the site and ask them why it’s denying the install?

    I may have misunderstood your problem, if I have I apologise.

    I have had several situations where I could not reload WordFence into a site. It is probably because the directory for WordFence exists in the Plugin folder but is largely empty. I have seen several cases of this. As long as a legacy folder exists for any plugin you will not be able to reinstall it. The best solution I have found is to go in through cPanel File manager or equivalent, (You could do it using FTP as well using Filezilla) locate the directory and delete it. Once you do that, go back into WordPress and install it normally.

    What I never found out in each instance this has occurred to me, is how the WordFence directory contents were erased in the first place. But it did solve the problem.

    @wingerz574 is correct on how to solve the problem. This is sometimes a permissions problem and sometimes we never figure out why this happens but it always a server/hosting issue and not WF related. Remove the old directory via ftp or ssh and reinstall by uploading a new copy. If you cannot do this like that contact the hosting provider and ask why. If the infection is deep and you cannot find it I do have other options available if you contact us (tim [at] wordfence.com)

    However, you said “I was also told not to update WordPress until the infection has been taken care of” I was wondering who told you that. Its why I thought someone else might be looking at it. Who exactly told you that?

    Thread Starter misflix

    (@misflix)

    Wingers – I did what you said. There’s no folder in the plugin section. In the upgrade folder it appears that wordfence exists but WP still does not recognize it.

    I’m going to ask godaddy now to see if they know how to resolve it. It created an upgrade folder and the files are in the folder.

    Tim, I asked a friend who has more experience with WP than I do if I should upgrade or not. He has not looked at my site as he is one of those friends who won’t do it for you, but you can ask him questions. This was before contacting you directly.

    Thank you guys for responding and helping me try and resolve the situation. In a perfect world I would just pay to have this fixed…that is if I had money to do that.

    Thread Starter misflix

    (@misflix)

    Wordfence has been installed. It was just a dumb permissions issue. I was not aware of this because I have never had issues installing plugins before. Thank you for helping me and making my day less stressful.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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