Troubleshooting Common Joomla Extension Installation Errors

There are lots of things that you might encounter when you are installing or updating a Joomla extension. In this article we will be providing explanations and solutions for all possible situations.

• Folder Permissions

Folder Permissions

The most common reason why the installation of a Joomla Extension can fail is the wrong permissions set for key folders in which the extension to be installed place its files.

Below you can find a list of folders that need to have the proper read/write persmissions.

• /tmp - Joomla! copies all uploaded files in this folder, it is absolutely necessary that it is writeable
• /administrator/components - component backend files are being placed here
• /administrator/language - backend language files for all extension types (components / plugins / modules) are being placed in this folder
• /administrator/modules - all backend area modules are installed here
• /components - component frontend files are stored in this folder
• /language - frontend language files for all extension types (components / plugins / modules) can be found here
• /modules - frontend modules will be installed here
• /plugins - all plugins are being installed in this folder
• /media - some extensions place files in this folder. It is mainly used for media files, such as images or videos.

Joomla offers a very easy way to view folder permissions through your Joomla admin. To do so, go to System -> System Information -> Folder Permissions. There you should make sure all the aforementioned folders have the green Writable indication as shown in the picture below.