Open
Overview of the issue
WP VIP servers have stricter file write permissions; we have identified a few restrictions that impact the way WPML works:
- /tmp is the only directory with write permissions; on top of that, files stored there are temporary and cannot be stored permanently.
- Media files are stored externally and mapped to the /wp-content/uploads directory, meaning it’s not a real directory.
- The wp-content/languages directory is completely unwritable
As a result, many PHP file system functions don’t work as expected. Additionally, the language directory restriction leads to errors when WPML tries to modify or update language files.
Due to these restrictions, WPML currently cannot write language translation files anywhere on the server, which prevents some WPML functionality related to string translation.
Workaround
Meanwhile, please follow these workarounds.
- To register WPML, follow this errata https://wpml.org/errata/wordpress-vip-hosting-issues-registering-wpmls-site-key/
For strings translation, ignore the notice that “WPML cannot write the MO files to wp-content/languages” and follow these steps to upload language translation files to server https://docs.wpvip.com/wordpress-skeleton/languages-directory/#h-language-translation-plugins