Title: not a valid header
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# not a valid header

 *  [chzumbrunnen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chzumbrunnen/)
 * (@chzumbrunnen)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/)
 * Trying to activate the plugin, I got the message:
    The plugin does not have a
   valid header.
 * Trying to activate it again from the plugins list went smoothly.
 * Just wanted to let you know.
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-tasks-todos/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-tasks-todos/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Plugin Author [nickvandervreken](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nickvandervreken/)
 * (@nickvandervreken)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659673)
 * That’s strange, but thank you for letting me know.
    From what I can understand
   it seems to be something with the format of the plugin header, but I can’t find
   an error there.
 * Will keep looking, I hope it doesn’t affect everyone.
    Thanks!
 *  Plugin Author [nickvandervreken](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nickvandervreken/)
 * (@nickvandervreken)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659674)
 * Might it be due to this?
 * —
    It happens due to duplicate copy of a folder inside a folder. It happens when
   you unzip a folder. like /wordpress/wordpress/…
 * make sure that you keep on level only.
    Thanks Anil — FROM: [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/the-plugin-does-not-have-a-valid-header-1?replies=9](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/the-plugin-does-not-have-a-valid-header-1?replies=9)
 *  Thread Starter [chzumbrunnen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chzumbrunnen/)
 * (@chzumbrunnen)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659680)
 * Thanks for the quick reply.
    No this is not the case. Simple Tasks & ToDo’s is
   orderly installed at: [userid]/homepage-abc.ch/wp-content/plugins/simple-tasks-
   todos
 *  Plugin Author [nickvandervreken](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nickvandervreken/)
 * (@nickvandervreken)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659682)
 * It seems to be a general error thrown by an internal WordPress function when 
   a plugin cannot be validated.
 * Some of those errors seem to be due to file system settings etc as well, and 
   it doesn’t look like there’s a way to get WordPress to be a bit more clear with
   their error messages.
    Seeing as the plugin is working, and the description/author
   information is being read correctly, I doubt it has to do with the actual plugin
   header. I wasn’t able to replicate the issue either.
 * I don’t think this one is fixable with a change in the plugin though..
    Can I
   mark this as not being a plugin issue?
 * — from a random blog —
    I also ran into this problem recently. In the end it’s
   to do with the permissions on the plugins directory. The web server needs write
   access to certain files when they are uploaded. If your server is running with
   group write permissions, the upload script doesn’t necessarily set the group 
   write bit on the necessary files, only owner write permission.
 *  Thread Starter [chzumbrunnen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chzumbrunnen/)
 * (@chzumbrunnen)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659684)
 * yes sure, mark it as not a plugin issue

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘not a valid header’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/simple-tasks-todos_b28274.svg)
 * [Simple Tasks & Todo's](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-tasks-todos/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-tasks-todos/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-tasks-todos/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-tasks-todos/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-tasks-todos/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simple-tasks-todos/reviews/)

 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [chzumbrunnen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chzumbrunnen/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-a-valid-header/#post-5659684)
 * Status: not a support question