Does WordPress give you the ‘Destination folder already exists’ error?
Usually, this error occurs during the installation of a theme or a plugin, preventing you from completing the process.
WordPress often shows this error, preventing the installation of certain plugins and themes.
Due to its name, we know what we’re dealing with, making troubleshooting a lot easier. The plugin or theme installation failure is also mentioned in the error message so it’s even easier to know where to go to fix the issue!
Throughout this article we’ll show you how to resolve the WordPress already exists destination folder error.
Let’s get started!
Table of contents
The destination folder already exists error may occur if you attempt to install a WordPress theme or plugin. The zip file of your plugin or theme is extracted into a folder that’s named after it.
WordPress aborts the installation if a folder with the same name already exists.
This error is caused by many things, including the most obvious one, which is that the plugin or theme is already installed.
This could be the result of the previous installation having been interrupted, leaving an empty plugin or theme folder behind.
It is also possible that the request for deleting the folder was timed out. Or, if you try to update your theme or plugin and its old files remain.
The easiest way to fix this error is to delete the plugin or theme folder that caused it.
This can be accomplished through the WordPress admin dashboard or via FTP or CPANEL.
You must clear your cache and reinstall the plugin or theme afterward. You should back up your WordPress blog beforehand.
In order to install a plugin or theme manually, WordPress extracts the .zip file to a folder of the same name. WordPress will display a comparison between two identical folders with the same path if it detects an identical folder.
When this happens, WordPress asks for permission to overwrite the old plugin or theme folder. You should be able to resolve the “Destination Folder Already Exists” error message by selecting Replace current with uploaded.
This warning will only appear when you are installing from the WordPress admin area with a plugin or theme’s .zip file.
To delete the plugin folder, you must connect to your server using your FTP credentials and navigate to the root WordPress directory.
From here, go to the wp-content/plugins folder.
Look for the plugin folder mentioned in the error message. It’s common for plugin folder names to share the same name as the plugin itself.
You can now delete the folder by right-clicking on it and selecting ‘Delete’ from the menu that appears.
After you hit delete, the plugin folder will be removed, along with all directories and files in it. In some cases, this may take a few minutes, depending on how large the plugin is.
Then clear your WordPress cache and reinstall the plugin.
WordPress errors are not pleasant to encounter, however most of them can be resolved easily.
You have hopefully learned that the same applies to the WordPress Destination folder already exists error.
There is nothing particularly complicated or troublesome about this issue, so it can be fixed quite easily.
It may be necessary to contact your web hosting provider if you keep getting the same error message even after rectifying it.
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