Error When Installing a Joomla Component

There is several reasons, why you may experience problem with installing the downloaded component package. The most common ones include:

Insufficient Limit of uploaded file size, defined by upload_max_filesize or post_max_size variables in php.ini.

The installation package of many components may be relatively big (more than 2 MB) while the default maximum size of a file that can be uploaded to a server is set to 2MB. To be able to upload, make sure the limit is big enough. You may need to contact your server admin to increase the limits for you.

Typical Joomla errror message that is shown when upload_max_filesize value is insufficient, may be a bit misleading - it says "There was an error uploading this file to the server." / "Unable to find install package". When post_max_size is too small, no error may be shown at all, the page only gets refreshed (still, error may be logget to a log file).

Also check for any additional hints at Warnings shown in Joomla Extension Manager (applies to Joomla 2.5 and newer).

Joomla temporary folder and all folders, where the component is being installed to, have to be writable.

Joomla uploads package in its temp directory, thus it needs to be writeable. Same applies to other folders where the installed needs to install the files, such as components, administrator/components, language, etc. Ensure all needed folders are writeable before installation.

FTP account is full

There is not enough free space assigned to your FTP account.

ZIP package cannot be unzipped correctly or appears to be empty

PHP at your server have problems with unpacking the downloaded ZIP archive. This occurs on some PHP versions on Windows or MacOS systems, where it seems to be error n the PHP ZIP library that causes that some archives cannot be unzipped correctly. Unzip the package manually at server and use "from directory" installation method, or re-pack the installation package at your local workstation and retry.