Support for top-level files folder introduced in Joomla! 5.3.0
Joomla 5.3.0 added a new top-level directory called
files, exposed in Media Manager. While you can
see the files you store in this directory and its subdirectories in
Media Manager, you cannot download them if you are using any server
configuration maker feature in Admin Tools (.htaccess Maker, NginX
Conf Maker, Web.Config Maker) until the Frontend directories
where file type exceptions are allowed feature is updated
to include this directory.
When you install Admin Tools afresh the Frontend
directories where file type exceptions are allowed feature
includes the new files folder by default.
Therefore, you do not need to do anything special if you are
installing Admin Tools afresh.
If you have an existing Admin Tools installation, you need to
visit the Control Panel page of Admin Tools. The
first time you visit that page and as long as
both conditions of a. running under Joomla! 5.3.0 or later; and b. the
Frontend directories where file type exceptions are
allowed feature NOT having files in it
Admin Tools will add the files entry into the
feature, save the server config file configuration, and (if your
current file is generated by Admin Tools) will create the server
config file afresh.
You need to take manual action in the following cases:
-
You do not want to use the
filesdirectory in the Media Manager. Go to Admin Tools, .htaccess Maker / NginX Conf Maker / Web.Config Maker and find the Frontend directories where file type exceptions are allowed feature. Remove thefilesitem from the list (you have to click the red minus button next to it). Click on the button in the toolbar.![[Warning]](/media/com_docimport/admonition/warning.png)
Warning If you have files you do not want to make accessible over the web in the
filesfolder, e.g. files served by a download manager extension, you MUST edit Joomla's FileSystem - Local plugin, and remove thefilesentry from it as well. If you fail to do that, users who can access the Media Manager (which can include the Guest users on some sites!) will be able to see the directory structure and the filenames of this directory's contents.In our humble opinion, Joomla using the folder name
fileswas a bad idea since this was the de facto standard of a folder holding non-web-accessible files for use with various download manager extensions since the Joomla! 1.0 times. Granted, the number of sites using donwload manager extensions is small, but the repercussions of exposing it without asking in a core feature as soon as you update Joomla are too important to just ignore. Anyway, it happened, so all we can do now is tell you how to put out any fires that bright spark lit… -
The automatic addition of the
filesdirectory did not take place. This can happen for a multitude of reasons outside our control, from OPcache settings to database issues. Go to Admin Tools, .htaccess Maker / NginX Conf Maker / Web.Config Maker and find the Frontend directories where file type exceptions are allowed feature. Add a newfilesitem at the bottom of the list (you have to click the green plus button). Click on the button in the toolbar. If, however, the item is already in place please read the next item. -
The automatic addition of the
filesdirectory did take place, but it did not take effect. If you are on Apache or NginX you may have to incorporate the changes made to the generated .htaccess / nginx.conf into your server's configuration and/or restart the web server just like every other time you regenerated the .htaccess / nginx.conf file. -
Your site broke when you visited Admin Tools' Control Panel page. This happened because the updated .htaccess / nginx.conf / web.config file was written to the disk, but the settings in the .htaccess Maker / NginX Conf Maker / Web.Config Maker were incorrect. You can follow the troubleshooting steps.