Install a theme in local machine. Should I need the FTP data connection?

Question

I have just installed wordpress at my localhost for the first time.

I want to install a theme, and it asks me about my FTP username and password.

It says this: "To perform the requested action, WordPress needs to access your web server. Please enter your FTP credentials to proceed. If you do not remember your credentials, you should contact your web host."

I'm wondering if wp is usually directly installed in the production web server or if it could be installed first in a local machine... What should I do?

Answer 1

Add this to your wp-config.php

define('FS_METHOD','direct');

Due to Linux having such a more restrictive file system, this will enable to you write directly to the folder.

This will solve that ftp problem while installing a new plugin or theme.

Answer 2

On OSX, I used the following, and it worked:

sudo chown -R _www:_www {path to wordpress folder}

_www is the user that PHP runs under on the Mac. (You can change this to whatever your PHP install runs under on your specific OS)

(You may also need to chmod some folders too. I had done that first and it didn't fix it. It wasn't until I did the chown command that it worked, so I'm not sure if it was the chown command alone, or a combination of chmod and chown.)

Answer 3

If WordPress asking hostname and connection details for installing plugin and themes, we need to add a function hook in the wp-config.php file in the home directory.

define('FS_METHOD','direct');

for more details refer the page. https://support.cloudways.com/how-to-resolve-wordpress-asking-for-ftp-credentials-error/

Answer 4

If you're using your local machine as the install location, instead of using the in-app installer (which is now askign you for ftp details), fire up a browser and download the theme directly from the Theme Directory, unzip it into the themes folder at wp-content/themes/name-of-theme. You can then activate the theme from the admin panels.

See also the instructions at http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes.