How to Change File Permissions in cPanel File Manager

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How to Change File Permissions in cPanel File Manager

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File permissions control who can read, write to, or execute a file on the server. Incorrect permissions are a common cause of 403 Forbidden errors and security vulnerabilities.


How to change permissions

  1. Log in at https://tpc-hosting.com/login and open cPanel.
  2. Under Files, click File Manager.
  3. Navigate to the file or folder you want to change.
  4. Right-click the item and select Change Permissions, or select it and click Permissions in the toolbar.
  5. Tick or untick the checkboxes, or type the numeric value directly.
  6. Click Change Permissions.

Recommended permissions

  • 644 — regular files (PHP scripts, HTML, CSS, JS, images). Owner can read and write; everyone else can only read.
  • 755 — directories and executable scripts. Owner can read, write, execute; everyone else can read and execute.
  • 600 — sensitive files (wp-config.php, .env). Only the owner can read and write; no one else has access.
  • 444 — read-only files that should never be modified by the web server.

What to avoid

  • 777 — gives full read, write, and execute access to everyone. This is a serious security risk and should never be used in production.
  • 666 — makes files world-writable. Avoid unless absolutely necessary for a short time.

Fixing 403 Forbidden errors

A 403 error usually means a directory does not have execute permission, or a file does not have read permission for the web server. Set directories to 755 and files to 644 as a starting point.

To change permissions recursively on a directory and all its contents, right-click the directory in File Manager and look for the Recurse into subdirectories option when changing permissions.


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