Title: Really Simple CAPTCHA image doesn't appear
Last modified: August 20, 2016
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# Really Simple CAPTCHA image doesn't appear
* [ebigalee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ebigalee/)
* (@ebigalee)
* [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/)
* I installed Really Simple CAPTCHA to support Contact Form 7. I generated the
tags within my form and added the code. It says “captcha” and has an empty field
beneath it. The correct libraries are installed, the temp folder is writable,
and I just don’t know what’s wrong or what else to try.
* [http://www.indiana.edu/~ccc/interest-for-enrollment-form-waitlist/](http://www.indiana.edu/~ccc/interest-for-enrollment-form-waitlist/)
* Help?
* [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/really-simple-captcha/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/really-simple-captcha/)
Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
* [davidquiring](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidquiring/)
* (@davidquiring)
* [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797322)
* This looks like the same issue I just solved for myself. Oddly my captcha WAS
working when I set up the contact form on my site back in February, but today
it was not (same issue – image not showing up). I don’t test the functionality
of it daily so I’m not sure at which point an update broke it.
* I went through the detective process which I’ll outline here to make it easier
for people to locate this solution from searching. First, I found that the image
WAS being generated in my uploads folder (…/wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_captcha/)
and all the folders and png/txt files had the proper public read permissions.
Hmmm but for some reason when my captcha form referenced the image it returned
a “403 Forbidden” message. Directly trying to access the file with my browser(…/
wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_captcha/123456789.png) also returned the “403 Forbidden”
error.
* After doing some research I found the problem to be with the .htaccess file that
Really Simple Captcha is creating if there does not already exist one in the
wpcf7_captcha folder.
* The solution? I edited the .htaccess file to only contain the text between these
quotes:
“Allow from all”
* The file they were creating tried to only allow for files with the image extension
to be accessible directly but for some reason the syntax they used was failing.
It might have something to do with my webhost being behind on an update or something,
or an error in their code.
* Another solution would be to remove the existing .htaccess file altogether and
then edit the plugin itself to not recreate the .htaccess file as it is not really
needed. The function you would remove is called “make_tmp_dir”.
* Hope this helps.
* [MickeyRoush](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mickeyroush/)
* (@mickeyroush)
* [13 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797403)
* I would not recommend doing what davidquiring suggests. Setting “Allow from all”
would allow a hacker to upload any type of file there. Like a PHP file for example.
The author is trying to secure that directory. Without those rules or something
similar in place it’s the same thing as leaving your window open at home which
would allow a burglar to climb in and do what they want.
* Try these rules instead:
* ```
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
```
* [Katch22](https://wordpress.org/support/users/katch22/)
* (@katch22)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797443)
* I’m currently having this issue too. It was working but when I updated the plugin
it now will not display the captcha.
* Everything is installed, the images are being created and I believe all of the
permissions are correct. When testing things, I deleted the contents of .htaccess
in the upload folder and the captcha appeared immediately.
* Obviously this isn’t an acceptable solution, but the code MickeyRoush provided
unfortunately doesn’t work either! I’ve removed the captcha from the form for
now but I would prefer to have it fixed and activated again – Any help would
be appreciated! I’ve found surprisingly little referring to this htaccess issue:
S
* Cheers!
* [MickeyRoush](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mickeyroush/)
* (@mickeyroush)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797444)
* @ Katch22
* What type of server are you on? Apache, Nginx, Windows, etc?
* [mikesoto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikesoto/)
* (@mikesoto)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797445)
* I just installed this plugin and getting the same results in IE8 and Firefox.
Does anybody have a solution?
* [germanny](https://wordpress.org/support/users/germanny/)
* (@germanny)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797446)
* I installed this plugin the other day and I’m seeing a similar issue. On initial
page load, the captcha plugin isn’t displayed and it seems neither the image
nor text file are created in the directory.
* However, after clearing the browser’s cache, the image then appears and refreshes
correctly.
* Kinda odd. Anyone have thoughts on what the problem could be?
* Thanks!
* [lmilesw](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lmilesw/)
* (@lmilesw)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797447)
* On some of my sites the captcha image disappeared after updating to WP 3.5. I
use Gravity forms and had to revert back to reCaptcha as I could not find where
the issue was. I tried deactivating all other plugins to no avail. The image
only doesn’t show when I am not logged into the site.
* [germanny](https://wordpress.org/support/users/germanny/)
* (@germanny)
* [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797448)
* My issue ended up being WP Super Cache plugin. Once I added the form’s page to
the list of skipped URLs (on the Advanced tab, about halfway down – can’t remember
exactly what it’s called), that fixed my problem.
* [Pyxze](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pyxze/)
* (@pyxze)
* [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797472)
* I was having issues with this as well and noticed an error in the access logs
saying that the .htaccess file (generated by the plugin in /uploads/wpcf7_captcha)
wasn’t readable.
* Changed permissions for the .htaccess file to 644 and the issue was solved.
* [breeze76](https://wordpress.org/support/users/breeze76/)
* (@breeze76)
* [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797474)
* I had the same problem and did what Pyxze suggested and BINGO! it works…
* [pawelpoz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pawelpoz/)
* (@pawelpoz)
* [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797477)
* Try edit file: wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_captcha/.htaccess
* Then replace text with:
* Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
* It works for me.
Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
The topic ‘Really Simple CAPTCHA image doesn't appear’ is closed to new replies.
* 
* [Really Simple CAPTCHA](https://wordpress.org/plugins/really-simple-captcha/)
* [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/really-simple-captcha/#faq)
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* 11 replies
* 10 participants
* Last reply from: [pawelpoz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pawelpoz/)
* Last activity: [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-simple-captcha-image-doesnt-appear/#post-2797477)
* Status: not resolved