By miletus on

I am trying to install drupal on localhost. My localhost is a vm running Fedora, Apache, php 5.3, mySQL. I created my database using phpMyadmin. Problem when I try to install drupal, I get the following 2 errors:
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File system
The directory sites/default/files does not exist. An automated attempt to create this directory failed, possibly due to a permissions problem. To proceed with the installation, either create the directory and modify its permissions manually or ensure that the installer has the permissions to create it automatically. For more information, see INSTALL.txt or the online handbook.

Settings file The settings file is not writable.
The Drupal installer requires write permissions to ./sites/default/settings.php during the installation process. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, consult the online handbook.
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Since its local host, I have changed directory permissions to 777 for everything to no avail. I have manually created the files directory. I have tried the suggestion fromdrupal.org/documentation/install/setttings-file to:
chown root:apache settings.php
chmod ug+rw settings.php
here's my listing output:

ls -l /var/www/html/b2/d712/sites/default
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 root apache 21143 Feb  1 14:03 default.settings.php
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 root apache 21143 Feb  1 14:03 settings.php
drwxrwxrwx. 2 root apache  4096 Apr 20 19:17 files

Any ideas? Is there a way to get a better error message, since I believe the file and directory really do exist with adequate permissions?

⋅ Categories: Drupal 7.x

Comments

john_b’s picture

john_b commented

That is strange. Seems to be some issue of the level of permissions the vm has on the (presumably Windows) host.

It has got to be worth trying owning the affected files by owner of php process (apache owner if you are running php as apache module, otherwise owner of folder where Drupal is).

Incidentally I found on WAMP I encountered a known Windows bug that even run as admin, it was not possible to set certain folders as writable if they were seen as system files by Windows. Hard to believe but true, I research this carefully, and MS do have have a workaround which they admit ultimately may not work. Possibly a related issue?

Digit Professionals specialising in Drupal, WordPress & CiviCRM support for publishers in non-profit and related sectors

christopher james francis rodgers’s picture

christopher james francis rodgers commented

"Drupal 7 - Install and Setup DAMP on your Windows PC or MAC - Video with outline"

http://drupal.org/node/1248034

DAMP: (Drupal, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.)

The Acquia.com (*) DAMP Drupal Stack Installer, in one package, includes Drupal and all of the other software you need to run Drupal on your computer

The link above is to a drupal.org handbook page, and uses D7 as an example, but many details apply to D6 as well.

(*) The original (year 2000) creator of Drupal, Dries Buytaert, is a co-founder of Acquia.com, and its chief technical officer (CTO).


All the best; intended.
-Chris (great-grandpa.com)
___
"The number one stated objective for Drupal is improving usability." ~Dries Buytaert *

l2adan’s picture

l2adan commented

I have the simillar problem while installing drupal 6.28 on locallserver.

I tried
chmod o+w sites/default/files

and
chmod 777 sites/default/files

but still The directory sites/default/files is not writable

manaslahlou’s picture

manaslahlou commented

use this : chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_rw_t /var/www/html/sites/