Cobra Forum

Question: Application can't write to the document root: The directory is not writable by the Web process


Applicable to:

Plesk for Windows


Symptoms

• An application fails to write to a site's document root, with an error similar to this one

The directory is not writable by the Web process


• Trying to enable a WordPress plugin returns an error

Error: Permission denied

Error: Invalid URL was requested.

• Opening the application in the browser shows access denied errors (for example, for the Umbraco application)

Server Error in '/' Application.
Access to the path 'C:\Inetpub\vhosts\example.com\httpdocs\App_Data\TEMP\PluginCache\umbraco-plugins.WIN-win.hash' is denied.

• The Additional write/modify permissions are disabled in Domains > example.com > Hosting Settings

Cause

The Plesk IIS and IIS application pool users for the site are missing full access rights are not granted.


Resolution

1.Log into Plesk

2.Go to Domains > example.com > Hosting & DNS > Hosting

3.Enable Additional write/modify permissions

4.Press the OK button

To automatically enable this option for new domains, turn on Additional write/modify permissions management in Service Plans > Default > Permissions > Show more permissions.