This article outlines the procedure to alter the ownership and permissions for files and directories, it is only relevant to customers who run a dedicated, cloud or virtual dedicated server. 


WinSCP is a Free SFTP, SCP and FTP client for Windows which can be downloaded from http://winscp.net/ as this is a third party tool we can not provide any guarantee with it and you use it at your own risk.


Open WinSCP


Click "New"


Here you can enter in your login details, it is important to use the root login details for your server as these are the default logins available to gain access. Leave the port as port 22. 


Next you will see a standard looking FTP client layout, your local files on the left and the remote files on the right.


IMPORTANT: This level of access is unrestricted, it is possible to severly damage your server and so caution should be exercised


Click the ".." to go up a level, and then you will see the files for the server, for Plesk the websites are stored in "/var/www/vhosts/{domain name}/httpdocs/" for cPanel they are stored in "/home/{username}/public_html/"


Browse to a directory or file that you want to edit, right click the file and click "Properties"


From the properties window that opens you can alter the Owner, Group and File Permissions.


A common problem, especially when it comes to Wordpress, Drupal and other CMS software is that the owner and group permissions do not allow plugins to be installed, or media to be uploaded. 


From here if you select "Owner" you should see another user that exists, this will usually relate to your website and will be obvious to yourself. 


Select the new Owner and Click "OK" to change the ownership. 


If you have a number of files below the directory you are working on that have the incorrect ownership you can select the option "Set group, owner and permissions recursively" which will apply the permissions to everything below. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS, if you have a number of varied permissions, users and groups you can cause a large amount of damage if its done incorrectly.


From the screenshots above you will see you can also edit the permissions of files/directories. Avoid altering files and directories to "777" permissions as this is very insecure, "755" would be more preferable to use, but these are dependent on the requirements of your software and permissions should only ever be edited if their is a requirement to do so.