Permission denied pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable, WestHost

[AITpro Admin]

Email Question:

Server type : cPanel – HotLink Protection Tool disabled. Server API: Unknown.
Installed plugin, attempted to protect /wp-admin area, since then I have been unable to access wordpress back end.
I have deleted plugin, replaced the .htaccess file in public html and even backed up from a period when the error did not exist however the problem persists.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[AITpro Admin]

When you say you attempted to add wp-admin folder protection are you saying that you added directory password protection?  Delete the .htaccess file in your wp-admin folder to get back into your wp-admin folder / WordPress Dashboard.

Please explain in detail what you are trying to do exactly.  Thanks.

[Uprootednut]

I clicked the box asking it to create a .htaccess file for my wp-admin file, however before it finished the webpage showed a 500 error. I looked in the wp-admin file there was no .htaccess file for me to delete. I reverted back to my original .htaccess file in the public_html folder, after that didn’t work I removed the plugin from the wp-contents/plugins folder, which also did nothing. I then restored a backed up version and still no success.
 
I think that makes sense, let me know if you need any more info.
The error message in the server log is :

[Tue Dec 18 09:20:26 2012] [crit] [client 62.253.141.247] (13)Permission denied: /home/xxxxxx/public_html/wp-admin/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

[AITpro Admin]

Please double check both your website root folder and your wp-admin folders for any .htaccess files and delete them.

I have never seen this error before, but Googling the error returns a lot of search results.

http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=363

Your Server Configuration type is Apache Module / DSO.  You can confirm this by looking at the BPS System Info page and you will see that your Server API should say DSO.

The general issue/problem is that either folder/file permissions are set too restrictive or your ownership permissions do not allow you to create files from within your WordPress Dashboard, which is a known issue with DSO for around a decade now.

If your Server type is DSO then you will have to perform these DSO setup steps explained in this Forum post to setup BPS >>> http://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/bulletproof-security-pro-compatibility-check-upgrading-from-bps-free-to-bps-pro/

[Uprootednut]

I have confirmed that we don’t use DSO, I have just removed the .htaccess file again from the public_html file and am now getting a different error message : Forbidden You don’t have permission to access /wp-admin/ on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
The error is only when trying to access the admin area.
I don’t know if that helps..

[AITpro Admin]

Then this means that you have not deleted the .htaccess file in your /wp-admin folder too.  Thanks.

[Uprootednut]

There is no .htaccess file in the /wp-admin folder, I have check on numerous occasions, I have checked via ftp and in the server control panel. 

[AITpro Admin]

Ok well then if you have removed the BPS .htaccess files from both the Root folder and the wp-admin folder then the problem is not being caused by BPS.  403 errors are not specific to ONLY BPS.  They are an Internet Standard HTTP Status Error Code just like 200, 404, 500, etc.  Did you change your WordPress Permalinks on the WordPress Settings >>> Permalinks page?

Is your website a Root folder WordPress installation or a subfolder installation of WordPress?  Example:  /wordress installed directly into the root folder or /wordress/wordpress installed in a folder directly off of your Root folder.

Example subfolder installation:  /wordpress/subfolder-name.  WordPress would be installed in the folder called “subfolder-name”.

If you have a Root website installation then create a text document using ONLY Notepad (not Word or WordPad) and add this code below in that text file, save it with the name default .txt and then upload the file and rename it to .htaccess.

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

If you have a subfolder installation then you would add your actual WordPress folder name instead of “subfolder-name” and do the steps above.

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /subfolder-name/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /subfolder-name/index.php [L]

# END WordPress

[Uprootednut]

I have followed your instructions and added the relevant code to notepad saved as a .txt file, placed the file in the /public_html folder where which contains the files wp-admin, wp-content etc and then renamed the file .htaccess.  This is still producing the 403 error. This is the latest error message from the server logs :

[Tue Dec 18 16:53:56 2012] [crit] [client 86.180.87.134] (13)Permission denied: /home/xxxxxx/public_html/wp-admin/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable.

It seems to think that there should be a .htaccess file in the wp-admin folder? Should there be one there? 

[AITpro Admin]

What the error message appears to be telling you is that there ALREADY IS an .htaccess file in your wp-admin folder and that pcfg_openfile is unable unable to check if the file is readable, but I just thought of something else you need to check.  Make sure that your folder permissions are set to 755 for this folder.  And you should check all of your other folder permissions and set them to 755 for good measure

[Uprootednut]

when you say all files permissions should be set to 755 is that including .php files and folders? I changed the .htaccess file permission from 644 to 755. Even the error pages aren’t the standard pages that are usually delivered. I just don’t know enough about these kind of problems, so frustrating! Your help is greatly appreciated.
In my wp-admin file there are only folders and .php files so I don’t know why it thinks there is a .htaccess file there..

[AITpro Admin]

Folder permissions NOT file permissions.  Your folder permissions should be 755 and your file permissions should be 644.

[Uprootednut]

The problem is fixed, I got the support staff from my server and apparently the company whose hosting I’m with required a different .htaccess.
Thanks for your help.

[AITpro Admin]

Which web host do you have?  Please post your Host name so that if anyone else has your Host then they will see the answer here.  Also BPS BulletProof Modes need to be activated together for BPS to work correctly so if your Host does not let you combine the BPS wp-admin .htaccess code into the Host’s wp-admin .htaccess file then you cannot use BPS on your website/Host.  Thanks.

[AITpro Admin]

Ok i did a search, came across the Thread you started at WordPress.org and found a link to your site, checked DNS and your Host is Strategies Group – strategies.co.uk.  I will add this Host to the BPS Incompatible Hosts List.  Thanks.

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