Posted on 6 April, 2009 By Kim Woodbridge 23 Comments

WordPress Flash Uploader Fix for the HTTP Error

Learn Line Dancing in a Flash (by Ray Radlein)

Last week I mentioned that I was having problems with comment moderation since upgrading to WordPress 2.7. Well, I was also having trouble with the flash uploader. I would get an error and have to use the browser uploader. Not a big deal but it annoyed me and slowed me done because I could only upload one image at a time.

So, I also decided to tackle this when I did my WordPress spring cleaning and I found a solution that worked for me.

 

When I would try to use the flash uploader for images I would get an error that said HTTP Error in bright red and nothing would happen.

When I started doing some research on the WordPress forums I discovered that there were many causes of this problem and just as many possible solutions. My heart sank a little because I wanted one simple answer and didn’t want to try a lot of different solutions. I am, however, only going to discuss the solution that worked for me.

The error is often caused by mod_security, which is a security module installed by the web host. This can be corrected by modifying the .htaccess file and there are two ways to deal with this.

  1. Install the Image Upload HTTP Error Fix plugin. The plugin adds the necessary lines to the .htaccess file. I have not tried this plugin so can’t vouch for it but people seem to be using is successfully.
  2. Edit your .htaccess file. This file is at the root level of your WordPress installation. Download it via ftp, make a copy, and then add the following lines to it.

    #BEGIN Image Upload HTTP Error Fix
    <IfModule mod_security.c>
    <Files async-upload.php>
    SecFilterEngine Off
    SecFilterScanPOST Off
    </Files>
    </IfModule>
    #END Image Upload HTTP Error Fix

    Then upload the edited .htaccess back to the root level of your WordPress installation.

I used the second solution because I am familiar with editing the .htaccess file and didn’t want to install another plugin just to do this for me. If you are having a similar problem with the flash uploader this solution may correct it. This thread in the WordPress forums discusses other possible solutions if this one doesn’t work for you.

photo credit: Ray Radlein


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  • Posted In : WordPress Plugins | WordPress Tips
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