Title: Error 403
Last modified: August 30, 2016

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# Error 403

 *  Resolved [Charami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/charami/)
 * (@charami)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-403-426/)
 * When I create a new download and use the download-monitor build in option to 
   upload a file, the subsequent download link displays an error 403 when downloading.
   
   If I however first upload the file through wordpress media and then use download-
   monitor to just browse to the file, the download works just fine.
 * I checked the file permissions for both file-types and they both have the numeric
   value **644**.
 * I don’t know what else could be causing this problem. Any help would be appreciated!
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/)

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Contributor [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * (@barrykooij)
 * [11 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-403-426/#post-6270517)
 * This is most likely caused because Download Monitor uploads it’s files to a protected
   directory. Make sure your downloads don’t have **Redirect to file** checked or
   changed/delete the .htaccess file from the download monitor folder (/wp-content/
   uploads/dlm_uploads/
 *  [KZeni](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kzeni/)
 * (@kzeni)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-403-426/#post-6270618)
 * Hi Barry,
 * I hadn’t changed the .htaccess file in the dlm_uploads folder, but I still want
   to have files uploaded via this plugin set to redirect to the file. It seems 
   like the `deny from all` .htaccess rule is always present, and is always breaking
   the redirect functionality.
 * **My suggestion:**
    Have it so the .htaccess file in dlm_uploads only adds `deny
   from all` when Download Monitor settings have “Prevent Hotlinking” enabled, and
   have it remove that line when that setting is disabled. This would have the plugin
   act how you’d expect while letting redirect to file work with files uploaded 
   via the plugin.
 * Going the extra mile might be disabling the “Redirect to file” checkbox when “
   Prevent Hotlinking” is enabled with a notice mentioning why this can’t be used.
 * That said, you might have a better workaround for serving redirected files that
   were uploaded via the plugin.
 * Thank you for the great plugin!
 *  Plugin Contributor [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * (@barrykooij)
 * [10 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-403-426/#post-6270619)
 * Hey KZeni,
 * For now we’ll always leave the `dlm_uploads` directory protected the way we’re
   currently doing it. We’re protecting the directory via .htaccess which kicks 
   in before PHP does, making it immune to almost all possible PHP backdoors or 
   security vulnerabilities.
 * I understand it can be annoying to run into issues when you’re directly linking
   to a file in a protected directory but I rather help the people that run into
   this than having to help people that have had direct access on files that were
   meant to be protected.
 * Thank you for understanding.
 * Kind Regards,
 * Barry Kooij

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Error 403’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/download-monitor/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3198936)
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 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Barry Kooij](https://wordpress.org/support/users/barrykooij/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-403-426/#post-6270619)
 * Status: resolved