{"id":1375,"date":"2025-11-19T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/knowledgebase\/changing-file-permissions\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:00:51","slug":"changing-file-permissions","status":"publish","type":"kb_article","link":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/knowledgebase\/changing-file-permissions\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing File Permissions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>File permissions control who can read, write, or run files and folders on your hosting account.<\/p>\n<h2>Recommended Permissions<\/h2>\n<p>For most websites, use:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Files: <strong>644<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Folders: <strong>755<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do not set files or folders to <strong>777<\/strong> unless you have been specifically told to do so for a short-term test.<\/p>\n<p>Permissions of <strong>777<\/strong> can make files or folders writable by more users than necessary and can create a security risk.<\/p>\n<h2>Change Permissions in cPanel File Manager<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Log in to cPanel.<\/li>\n<li>Open <strong>File Manager<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Find the file or folder you want to change.<\/li>\n<li>Select the file or folder.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Permissions<\/strong> or <strong>Change Permissions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Set the required permissions.<\/li>\n<li>Save the change.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Change Permissions by FTP<\/h2>\n<p>Many FTP programs include a <strong>CHMOD<\/strong>, <strong>Permissions<\/strong>, or <strong>File Permissions<\/strong> option.<\/p>\n<p>Use that option to set the file or folder permissions.<\/p>\n<h2>Change Permissions by SSH<\/h2>\n<p>If SSH access is enabled on your hosting account, you can use the <strong>chmod<\/strong> command.<\/p>\n<p>Only use SSH if you are comfortable with command-line tools.<\/p>\n<h2>How Permission Numbers Work<\/h2>\n<p>Permission numbers are calculated from these values:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read: <strong>4<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Write: <strong>2<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Execute: <strong>1<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The three digits apply to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Owner<\/li>\n<li>Group<\/li>\n<li>Others<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For example, <strong>755<\/strong> means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Owner can read, write, and execute.<\/li>\n<li>Group can read and execute.<\/li>\n<li>Others can read and execute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>File permissions control who can read, write, or run files and folders on your hosting account. Recommended Permissions For most websites, use: Files: 644&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","kb_category":[26],"class_list":["post-1375","kb_article","type-kb_article","status-publish","hentry","kb_category-web-hosting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article\/1375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kb_article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article\/1375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1380,"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_article\/1375\/revisions\/1380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.4uhosting.co.uk\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kb_category?post=1375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}