<blockquote>
  <p>Is the only option to avoid CMS access temporarily, copy down the live database, do any updating locally and then upload the file changes &amp; update the live database?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Pretty much.  You'll want to lock the version of PHP in your composer.json file to whatever your production PHP version is so you don't pull in dependencies locally running a higher version of PHP that you deploy live.  You can do that like so:  <a href="https://github.com/pixelandtonic/craftnet/blob/develop/composer.json#L46-L50" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/pixelandtonic/craftnet/blob/develop/composer.json#L46-L50</a></p>

<p>Note that <code>allow_url_fopen</code> is a Composer requirement... there are several issues in their repo of people running into this: <a href="https://github.com/composer/composer/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=is%3Aissue+allow_url_fopen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/composer/composer/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=is%3Aissue+allow_url_fopen</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T18:34:59.360Z
2018-07-25T18:34:59.360Z
Brad Bell
<p>I have set up a Craft 3 site on shared hosting. When I try to update Craft or install plugins via the CP, I get the following error:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The "<a href="https://composer.craftcms.com/packages.json" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://composer.craftcms.com/packages.json</a>" file could not be
  downloaded: allow_url_fopen must be enabled in php.ini</p>
</blockquote>

<p>allow_url_fopen cannot be enabled on this hosting &amp; there is no SSH access</p>

<p>What are my options for updating Craft &amp; installing/updating plugins in this scenario?</p>

<p>Is the only option to avoid CMS access temporarily, copy down the live database, do any updating locally and then upload the file changes &amp; update the live database?</p>

<p>Thanks </p>

<craft3><updates><manual-updates><hosting>
Craft 3 updates & plugins without allow_url_fopen or SSH
# Craft 3 updates & plugins without allow_url_fopen or SSH

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-25)

I have set up a Craft 3 site on shared hosting. When I try to update Craft or install plugins via the CP, I get the following error:

> The "<https://composer.craftcms.com/packages.json>" file could not be
> downloaded: allow\_url\_fopen must be enabled in php.ini

allow\_url\_fopen cannot be enabled on this hosting & there is no SSH access

What are my options for updating Craft & installing/updating plugins in this scenario?

Is the only option to avoid CMS access temporarily, copy down the live database, do any updating locally and then upload the file changes & update the live database?

Thanks

**Tags:** craft3, updates, manual-updates, hosting


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-25. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

> Is the only option to avoid CMS access temporarily, copy down the live database, do any updating locally and then upload the file changes & update the live database?

Pretty much. You'll want to lock the version of PHP in your composer.json file to whatever your production PHP version is so you don't pull in dependencies locally running a higher version of PHP that you deploy live. You can do that like so: <https://github.com/pixelandtonic/craftnet/blob/develop/composer.json#L46-L50>

Note that `allow_url_fopen` is a Composer requirement... there are several issues in their repo of people running into this: <https://github.com/composer/composer/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+allow_url_fopen>


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