Title: WordPress plugins : Installation failed Last modified: December 10, 2018 --- # WordPress plugins : Installation failed * [easymaths](https://wordpress.org/support/users/easymaths/) * (@easymaths) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/) * I have tried to install some plugins on WordPress and when I try to download them the message “Installation failed: Could not create directory” keeps displaying. Any ideas on how I can fix this. Orignally I tried to install the woo commerce plugin and it came up with a fatal error where I could not proceed with anything. I fixed this by renaming the plugins folder under my file manager. My site now works however I can’t install any plugins. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * [nelson2018](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nelson2018/) * (@nelson2018) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10969657) * Hello Easy Maths, * This can be due to many factors. Have you currently upgraded to a business plan? WordPress.com users cannot install plugins unless they upgrade to the business plan which costs about $299 per year. If you are on a free, personal, or premium plan, then you cannot install third-party plugins. * Are you Facing Memory Limit Issues? * The second most common scenario is that you can see and access the plugins menu but unable to install plugins. * The failure notice is usually caused by the PHP memory limit. There are settings in your WordPress hosting and inside your WordPress core that define the amount of memory a PHP script can use. When a process reaches this limit, it either gets terminated or it gives an error like this: * Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted * The quick fix to this problem is increasing your PHP memory limit. You can do that by adding this line to your wp-config.php file: 1 * define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’); * User role restrictions * WordPress comes with a built-in user role management system. Sometimes web developers don’t give administrator access to their clients. Instead, they create an editor account for them. * I hope this could help you out. * Good luck, * Nelson - This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by [nelson2018](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nelson2018/). * [Pete Moore](https://wordpress.org/support/users/techmystressaway/) * (@techmystressaway) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970200) * Hi, * Couple of questions. * Did you set up the site originally and have you ever been able to install plugins/ themes? * Is it possible some kind of folder permissions were changed when you used file manager in your hosting account? * Pete * Thread Starter [easymaths](https://wordpress.org/support/users/easymaths/) * (@easymaths) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970440) * [@techmystressaway](https://wordpress.org/support/users/techmystressaway/) * Hi, * I was able to install plugins when I first setup the site until I tried to install the woo-commerce plugin, which resulted in a fatal error. I fixed this by renaming the plugins folder in my file manager. This has allowed me to access the website, but I cannot install any other plugins.Other than this i’m not sure what has caused the problem. * [Pete Moore](https://wordpress.org/support/users/techmystressaway/) * (@techmystressaway) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970544) * Did you rename it back to plugins after getting the site backup? * If not that’s your issue. * Pete * [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/) * (@jnashhawkins) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970559) * Try going back into the files manager and creating a new plugins directory to appease the plugin installer. * Renaming the plugins directory is usually a stopgap solution around a problem but you can run many plugins from the wrong directory. But you’ll probably need the original ‘plugins’ directory to install the next new plugin. * The old plugins that seem to be working in that one-off directory can be left where they are. As long as they are working they should be fine. It’s possible a future update of one of those plugins may refuse to work so do keep that in mind. * If you have further troubles installing plugins once you’ve recreated the plugins directory you’ll need to look at the ownership and permissions on that directory. * Thread Starter [easymaths](https://wordpress.org/support/users/easymaths/) * (@easymaths) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970712) * Thank you guys for all of your help. It seems to be working now since I have created a new directory. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again. * [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/) * (@jnashhawkins) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970907) * That new directory, if you were following my earlier suggestion, will probably be fine from here on out. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘WordPress plugins : Installation failed’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [installation failed](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/installation-failed/) * [wordpress plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wordpress-plugins/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 7 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/) * Last activity: [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-plugins-installation-failed/#post-10970907) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics