While uploading the image to the gallery on WordPress 2.8, i found out that it was giving me this error:
Unable to create directory /the/path/here/.
Is its parent directory writable by the server?
This can be caused by some misconfiguration, including shifting the blog server or directory.
The solution to this issue is simple:
Goto Settings -> miscellaneous
and change what ever value is there in for: Store uploads in this folder to wp-content/uploads
You can notice that on the same page, just in front of that input box, WordPress also says that default is wp-content/uploads
Hope this solves the issue of error saying that the parent directory is writable or not by the server when uploading image file or other file to the media directory.
EDIT 1: Please note, that when you add “wp-content/uploads” you donot write the slash in the begining like “/wp-content/uploads”.
Also, there is upgrade version 2.8.1 for WordPress is available, it includes fixes to many issues already, so try upgrading it first and then see if the error still presists. You can find the post for upgrading your WordPress in the WordPress section.
EDIT 2: (see the edit 3 below before going for this one) If the above does not fix the problem, you need to confirm this:
Goto your site root > wp-content
Check if there is a folder named uploads
If you cannot see the folder, then simply create new folder to it and name it uploads.
Try uploading the image now, if it still doesn’t work then give permissions for this folder uploads to be 777.
If this does not solve the issue , and the uploads folder already exist, check if there is folder named 2009 in it.
If it does exist then simply give permission 777 to all sub folders in the main uploads folder.
Make sure that you return the value to 755 once you have worked on it. For solving this for long term , see the edit 3 below.
Hope it solves the issue.
EDIT 3: User wafwot mentioned this fix and mentioned that it is checked, so try this before attempting to set the permission to 777:
Disabling PHP safe mode will allow the apache user to create subsequent year and month subdirectories in uploads with “Organize my uploads into month and year-based folders” checked. No need for world-writable directories.
If you dont know how to disable safe mode, ask your hosting provider , or post here if you need help about it.