Title: [Plugin: W3 Total Cache] Cannot Activate Plugin
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# [Plugin: W3 Total Cache] Cannot Activate Plugin

 *  [cmttampa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmttampa/)
 * (@cmttampa)
 * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/)
 * Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
 * /var/www/vhosts/airband.com/httpdocs/wp-content/w3tc/dbcache could not be created,
   please run following command:
    chmod 777 /var/www/vhosts/xxx.com/httpdocs/wp-
   content/w3tc

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Ovidiu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ovidiu/)
 * (@ovidiu)
 * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/#post-1752198)
 * whats your question?
    the plugin tells you what to do to fix the problem:
 *     ```
       run following command:
       chmod 777 /var/www/vhosts/xxx.com/httpdocs/wp-content/w3tc
       ```
   
 * thats refering to a ssh console. if you are using an ftp client, set the permissions
   of that folder to 777
 *  Plugin Contributor [Frederick Townes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fredericktownes/)
 * (@fredericktownes)
 * [15 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/#post-1752327)
 * [@cmttampa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmttampa/) make sense? If not,
   call your host for support with this error message.
 *  [andykillen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/andykillen/)
 * (@andykillen)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/#post-1752503)
 * I get the same error on a freshly installed machine. When I use SSH to got the
   server and run the chmod it does it fine but every time I re-activate the plugin
   it then deleted the w3tc directory
 * I’ve tried re-creating the w3tc directory and also the dbcache directory by hand,
   chmod’ing it to 777 and then re-activating but every time it just deleted the
   directory.
 * Any ideas?
 *  Plugin Contributor [Frederick Townes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fredericktownes/)
 * (@fredericktownes)
 * [15 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/#post-1752511)
 * I didn’t really follow what was said there. If you’ve got a good working installation
   deactivating and re-activating the plugin should work without error.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘[Plugin: W3 Total Cache] Cannot Activate Plugin’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/w3-total-cache/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1041806)
 * [W3 Total Cache](https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/w3-total-cache/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/w3-total-cache/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/w3-total-cache/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/w3-total-cache/reviews/)

 * 4 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [Frederick Townes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fredericktownes/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-w3-total-cache-cannot-activate-plugin/#post-1752511)
 * Status: not resolved