W3Syllabus

Shared or CPanel Hosting

To enable FTPS (FTP over SSL) for updates or plugin/theme installations in WordPress via the wp-config.php file, you can define specific constants that tell WordPress to use FTPS instead of regular FTP.

Step 1: Edit wp-config.php

Then, add the following code before the line:

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

/** FTP/FTPS Configuration **/
define('FS_METHOD', 'ftpext');          // Use FTP PHP extension
define('FTP_BASE', '/path/to/your/site/'); // Usually not needed, but you can specify if WordPress can't detect
define('FTP_USER', 'your-ftp-username');
define('FTP_PASS', 'your-ftp-password');
define('FTP_HOST', 'yourdomain.com:21'); // You can change port to 990 if your FTPS runs on 990
define('FTP_SSL', true);                 // This enables FTPS (FTP over SSL)

How can I configure WordPress to handle updates, plugin installations, and theme installations directly on Managed WordPress hosting without using FTP or FTPS?

On Managed WordPress hosting, the server usually already has the correct file permissions for WordPress to write directly to the filesystem. In such cases, you don’t need to use FTP or FTPS for updates.To enable direct file access, simply add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

Why this works:

• FS_METHOD tells WordPress how to write files.

• 'direct' mode allows WordPress to write files directly without asking for FTP credentials.

• This is the preferred approach for managed hosting where file permissions are already correct, making updates and installations faster and more seamless.