Title: Error while installing theme
Last modified: December 23, 2022

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# Error while installing theme

 *  [epanagio](https://wordpress.org/support/users/epanagio/)
 * (@epanagio)
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/)
 * I just installed the latest version, 6.1.1, and i could not install any themes
   because files could not be created.
    In a moment of desperation I issued a
 * chmod -R 777 worpress
 * and of course I had no problem after that. I have full access to the server and
   database.
    What is the proper user and group and also what are the correct permission
   bits?

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

 *  Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * (@sterndata)
 * Volunteer Forum Moderator
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16316962)
 * Directories: 755
    Files: 644 Ownership should match the ID of the ID under which
   the PHP process is running.
 *  Thread Starter [epanagio](https://wordpress.org/support/users/epanagio/)
 * (@epanagio)
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16316995)
 * I will correct the permissions. I installed it as root and the group and owner
   are root. I saw the group and owner of the .htaccess file to be www-data. I assume
   that this is the web server itself. I will change all group and owner to www-
   data.
 *  Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * (@sterndata)
 * Volunteer Forum Moderator
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16317006)
 * Oh, my. NEVER EVER run your web server as root! In fact, while the Debian/Ubuntu
   systems default to www-data, it’s best to create a specific user for each site
   you host on the server, for both the files and the PHP process.
 *  Thread Starter [epanagio](https://wordpress.org/support/users/epanagio/)
 * (@epanagio)
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16317033)
 * I read the detailed documentation but it didn’t specify who should be installing
   it. Whose ID should I install it under?
 *  Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * (@sterndata)
 * Volunteer Forum Moderator
 * [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16317131)
 * When I set up a site, I create a new user (e.g., “www-sterndata” and give ownership
   of /var/www/sterndata (and below) to that user. In my php-fpm config for this
   virtual host, I set it to run as “www-sterndata”, too.
 * How? For the mechanics within your distro, check with its support community.
 * This is not part of the WP install itself, but the configuration you need to 
   do to set up a WP hosting environment.

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

The topic ‘Error while installing theme’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [group](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/group/)
 * [installation](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/installation/)
 * [user](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/user/)

 * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * Last activity: [3 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-installing-theme/#post-16317131)
 * Status: not resolved

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