Home›Support›English Support›[Resolved] WPML configuration in Wordpress VIP - languages directory not writable workaround
[Resolved] WPML configuration in Wordpress VIP - languages directory not writable workaround
This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: If you're experiencing issues with WPML String Translation on WordPress VIP, where WPML is trying to write .mo files to the non-writable /var/www/wp-content/languages directory, thus blocking translations from appearing on your site, we have a workaround for you. Solution: First, please check our documentation on handling issues with WordPress VIP hosting at https://wpml.org/errata/wordpress-vip-hosting/. If the error message is still visible and causing issues, you can add the following CSS code to hide it:
Please note that this solution might be outdated or not applicable to your specific case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket.
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Background of the issue:
Our site is hosted on WordPress VIP and we're seeing an issue with WPML String Translation. WPML is attempting to write .mo files with translations to the folder /var/www/wp-content/languages, which is not writable. This is blocking translation for strings from appearing on the site. We have already reached out to WordPress VIP, but there's no way for us to enable this on their platform. We are looking for a workaround to continue using WPML.
Symptoms:
WPML String Translation is attempting to write .mo files to a non-writable folder, blocking translations from appearing on the site.
Questions:
Is there a workaround for making the languages directory writable on WordPress VIP?
How can we continue using WPML if the languages directory is not writable?
i've tried setting the environment variable multiple ways and nothing from that document you shared works. I'm going to share this with wordpress vip and see if they have any ideas as well
Also i think one issue is i can't seem to deregister my site and enter the new key. It WordPress VIP doesn't allow us to access the commercial tab in the plugins section so the way you recommend to deregister doesn't work.
Languages: English (English )German (Deutsch )French (Français )
Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+02:00)
Given how VIP handles the file system, which differs significantly from standard hosting environments and affects how WPML operates, hopefully their support will be able to help related to the above.
Thanks for the updates. So for the languages directory it looks there is no way around the permission issues and its recommended to just add those files locally to the languages so we've done that and these files are deployed to our environment. One question though is how do we get rid of the error message?
Languages: English (English )German (Deutsch )French (Français )
Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+02:00)
You can try using a plugin like https://wordpress.org/plugins/admin-css-mu/ to hide the notice. Use your browser’s code inspector (e.g., in Chrome or Firefox) to identify the CSS class for the message. It’s likely something like:
.wpml-admin-notice {
display: none !important;
}
If using an additional plugin isn't ideal for your setup, let me know — I can check with our 2nd-tier team to see if there’s a filter available to remove the notice instead.
