There doesn't seem to be a wp-config.php file WordPress Origin: Application & API Last updated 13 Oct 2026

WordPress: There doesn't seem to be a wp-config.php file. I need this before we can get started

WordPress can’t find wp-config.php, so it starts the installer — on an existing site that means the file was deleted, renamed or the document root is wrong.

Exact message you may see There doesn't seem to be a wp-config.php fileI need this before we can get startedwp-config.php not found
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Seen on: WordPress

Meaning

wp-config.php can live in the WordPress folder or one level up. Deployments that don’t include it, wrong document roots, or permission problems (unreadable) trigger the setup screen.

Common causes

  • wp-config.php missing from deployment
  • Document root pointing to the wrong folder
  • File unreadable by PHP
  • Fresh install not yet configured

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Restore wp-config.php (not wp-config-sample.php)
  2. Fix the vhost document root
  3. Check file ownership/permissions

Detailed fix by platform

Shell

  1. php
    ls -l /var/www/html/wp-config.php /var/www/wp-config.php
wp config create --dbname=wp --dbuser=wp --dbpass=secret --path=/var/www/html

How to diagnose

  1. File — Present and readable?
  2. Root — Server document root

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Application & API. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

0x8007000D — Windows error 0x8007000D (The data is invalid) (Windows)0x8007000DAH00558 — Apache: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name (Nginx / Apache)AH00558api_version_invalid — API Error: Invalid or unsupported API version (API)api_version_invalidDB connection — WordPress: Error Establishing a Database Connection (WordPress)DB connectionfeature_not_enabled — API Error: Feature not enabled for this account (feature_not_enabled / not available on your plan) (API)feature_not_enabledIndex of / — WordPress site shows "Index of /" (directory listing instead of the site) (WordPress)Index of /MongoParseError — MongoDB: MongoParseError: Invalid scheme, expected connection string to start with "mongodb://" or "mongodb+srv://" (MongoDB)MongoParseErrornginx: [emerg] unknown directive — Nginx: nginx: [emerg] unknown directive "x" in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/x:12 — configuration file test failed (Nginx / Apache)nginx: [emerg] unknow…There doe…

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