Why can’t I delete certain files or directories in the Drupal docroot?
Date Published: May 8, 2025
While trying to delete files or directories in the Drupal docroot, you might get the following Permission denied messages:
ide:~$ rm -Rf project
rm: cannot remove 'project/docroot/sites/default/files': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove 'project/docroot/sites/default/default.settings.php': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove 'project/docroot/sites/default/settings.php': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove 'project/docroot/sites/default/default.services.yml': Permission denied
The above issue is related to Drupal permissions. Before you can delete those files or directories, you must change permissions.
To do so, run the following command:
chmod -R u+w /home/ide/project/docroot/sites/default
You can now delete those files and directories.
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