Back in business – WordPress Forbidden Error

Finally the blog is working correctly its about bloody time its only taken me nearly a year to fix it!!!

so for reference for me and anyone else who has suffered from major problems with this even forbidden error.

first back up your database (you wont need it but do it anyway)

next use the export tool that comes with later versions of wordpress if you don’t have the export tool do a quick auto update to get your hand on it (it wont back your posts just might break everything else but that doesn’t matter now)

next install a fresh copy of wordpress and i mean completely fresh this should weed out any legacy bugs (mainly BD related)

first MAKE a new database with completely different table names! second if possible move your blog directory to force a recache if not request your host to delete your sites cache.

$table_prefix  = ‘wp_’;  // change this to something else!!! anything else

ok you are now ready to completely delete your blog so go and do it now (note if you are changing directories leave the WP_content folder for the time being)

now install you shiny new wordpress blog and import your post. if you get an error about permission just fiddle with the permission of the new wp_content folder this will vary from server to server but 755 should work if not trying 766 but try to avoid the evil 777 setting. now if you’ve moved the directory of where you blog is then make sure you import everything otherwise everything will have the wrong links.

lastly and the most important if you are still suffering from this problem with external blogging software you require to create a .htaccess file in the same folder as xmlrpc.php (root of your blog) or edit the one that’s already there.

just add this

<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</IfModule>

if that doesn’t work or if you not happy with turning the inheritance filter off use

<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule> 

simple?

good now if your still having problem with standard publishing and saving then just edit the .htaccess file in the WP_admin folder to include one of the above.