In Phoca Gallery, there were changed permissions of folders since version 2.5.2. As many hacking robots use folders with 777 rights to write malignant code there (mostly .htaccess files), the permissions of folders were set to 755.
 
During installation, Phoca Gallery creates images/phocagallery folder with permissions set to 755. This can be changed in file or ftp manager. It is not recommended to change it to 777 because of security.
 
While using Phoca Gallery, it creates folders for categories (subfolders in folder images/phocagallery) and thumbnails. These folders have rights set to 755 as default. You can change it to other value in Parameters (Component » Phoca Gallery » Control Panel » Parameters » Security Settings » Folder Permissions). Changes will take effect only for newly created folders (Permissions of previously created folders can be changed in file or ftp manager).
 
If you have problem with permissions on your server, try to enable FTP layer in your Joomla! Global Configuration. (The FTP layer should be enabled before installing Phoca Gallery, so created folders will have the same ownership as your FTP account).
 
If you have problems with thumbnails creating, try to set rights of images/phocagallery folder to 777, rights of all subfolders in this folder to 777 and Parameter Folder Permissions to 777. If permissions of all Phoca Gallery folders are set to 777, try to test creating of thumbnails. If thumbnails are created, the problem of thumbnails creating is caused by permissions. You need to enable FTP layer or contact your webhosting operator to solve this problem.  After testing it is recommended to set it back to 755 because of security.
 
Thumbnails can be created by the following ways:
  • Using JFile method - Joomla! framework's JFile method can create thumbnails with help of FTP layer. If you have enabled FTP layer and folders have ownership of your FTP account, you should enable this parameter (JFile Thumbnail Creation set to Yes)
  • Not using JFile method - If you are not using FTP layer, try to disable this parameter, so thumbnails can be created by server script (with server script ownership).