Fixing file permissions: fix_permissions, fix_storage and File manager

January 09, 2026 326 views

Git/Deploy SSH & FTP

Fixing file permissions

Wrong permissions are the most common cause of "Permission denied" errors, or of Laravel being unable to write to storage or bootstrap/cache. CloudWeb hosting offers three ways to fix them: one click in the panel, a command in SSH/the web terminal, or manually through the File manager.

One click in the panel

On a hosting's detail page, open Development → Deployments, expand a repository, and in the Quick actions sub-tab find the Permissions section with two buttons:

Fix permissions – runs fix_permissions on the whole repository
Fix storage – runs fix_storage, a faster fix limited to the storage directory

The fix_permissions command

If you connect via SSH or the web terminal, the same command is available directly in the shell:

fix_permissions

Without an argument it fixes /var/www/html if it exists, otherwise the current directory. You can also pass a specific path: fix_permissions /var/www/html/my-project. The command:

sets the owner to your_user:www-data,
sets directories to 2775 (read/write/execute for owner and group, plus setgid so new files inherit the www-data group),
sets files to 664 (read and write for owner and group),
if it finds a storage or bootstrap/cache directory, fixes those the same way.

The fix_storage command (for Laravel)

fix_storage

It first tries ./storage (relative to wherever you currently are in the shell), and if that does not exist, /var/www/html/storage. As with fix_permissions, you can pass a specific path: fix_storage /var/www/html/my-project/storage. It is faster because it does not walk the whole site, only this one directory.

Permissions through the File manager

For a single file or folder you can also change permissions in the File manager: right-click it and choose Permissions. In the dialog you enter a three- or four-digit octal number (e.g. 755), and for a folder you can check "Apply to everything inside the folder" to apply the change recursively to its whole contents.

Fixing permissions manually

If you need finer control, you can achieve the same result as fix_permissions by hand (replace USERNAME with your SSH username):

sudo chown -R USERNAME:www-data /var/www/html
sudo find /var/www/html -type d -exec chmod 2775 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/html -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;

When to use these commands

after uploading files via FTP,
after cloning or pulling from Git outside the panel (e.g. directly via SSH),
when you see "Permission denied" errors,
when Laravel cannot write to storage or bootstrap/cache.

After a clone, pull or Quick action run directly in the panel, the panel already fixes permissions and restarts PHP on its own – you mainly need these commands after changes made outside the panel.

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Fixing file permissions: fix_permissions, fix_storage and File manager