How to Resolve the Failed to Open Stream Error in WordPress

Are you seeing the failed to open stream error in WordPress?

An error message of this nature usually indicates the location of the script where the error has occurred, but beginner users might struggle to understand it.

Throughout this article, we will show you how to easily fix the WordPress failed to open stream error.

Let’s get started!

Why Failed to Open Stream Error Happens?

WordPress’ ‘Failed to open stream’ error is caused by a number of factors which are worth investigating before trying to fix the problem.

This error occurs when WordPress is incapable of loading a file mentioned in your website code.

Some WordPress sites will continue to load with a warning message when this error occurs, while other WordPress sites may show a fatal error and not load any content.

Depending on where the error occurred in the code and the reason for failure, the message phrasing will differ.

The error message would usually look like this:

Warning: require(/mysite/wp-includes/file.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /mysite/wp-settings.php on line 32

Here’s how to troubleshoot and fix the ‘failed to open stream’ error in WordPress.

Fixing Failed to Open Stream Error in WordPress

We discussed earlier that the error can be caused by a variety of reasons, and the error message will differ depending on whether the error is caused by a particular file and the location of that file.

‘no such file or directory’ message

Search for the script and find out which file or directory it’s trying to access.

Verify the spelling. If it’s correct, then it could be that it was deleted.

As an example, imagine you’ve got a script which calls a certain plugin. Syncing the files would be impossible if the plugin was not installed correctly. If a plugin or theme seems to be malfunctioning, try removing and reinstalling it.

If this fix doesn’t work, the problem might be linked to your .htaccess file

Troubleshooting the open stream error with the .htaccess file

You must then go to the Settings » Permalinks page within your WordPress admin and select the ‘Save changes’ button to regenerate the .htaccess file.

This should fix your failed to open stream error. If it doesn’t, keep reading!

Permission Denied

When the error message is followed by ‘Permission denied’, WordPress is unable to access the file or directory referenced in the code.

For this problem to be fixed, you need to inspect and correct WordPress files and directory permissions.

To do so, click the File Manager link under your cPanel menu or open your favorite FTP client.

Look for the file or directory that is mentioned in the error message. After you have located it, right-click it and select ‘Change Permissions’.

Check that the Read, Write, and Execute boxes are checked.

In most cases, this will solve the problem and make everything work again.