Question

Change max_input_vars and Memory Limit for wordpress

I would like to change the following to install a Wordpress theme

  1. PHP Max Input Vars
  2. Memory Limit

I updated the php.ini file that I found from /etc/php/8.0/cli/php.ini and use text editor(Sublime) edited

max_input_vars = 3000 memory_limit = 96M

But it seems like it didn’t work. Could you suggest the steps to take to fix this?

Thanks.


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Thank you both for the quick response! Problem resolved : )

alexdo
Site Moderator
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July 17, 2024

Hello,

You can create a php info file in order to check the current values and check which is the php.ini file in use. Create the following file in your public_hmtl folder - phpinfo.php and put the following code inside it:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

You can also use the following command in order to find the location of the php.ini file:

php -i | grep php.ini

The output will be:

Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc/php/7.2/cli
Loaded Configuration File => /etc/php/7.2/cli/php.ini

Then check for the current value of max_input_vars you can also check which is the configuration file - php.ini that is currently used and apply the changes there (if the site using the global php.ini file and you change the values for these settings this will make the changes globally for all sites). Ideally you would like to have the following values:

max_input_vars = YOURVALUE

Note: Change YOURVALUE with the value you want to set, e.g 3000

You also need to restart your web server in order the changes to take effect.

Hope that this helps!

Bobby Iliev
Site Moderator
Site Moderator badge
July 17, 2024

Hey!

To change the max_input_vars and memory_limit for WordPress, you need to ensure that you are editing the correct php.ini file and possibly make changes in other configurations if necessary.

The ini file that you’ve updated at /etc/php/8.0/cli/php.ini is only for the PHP CLI rather than your web server.

WordPress is probably be using a different php.ini file, especially if it’s running on a web server, for example:

  • /etc/php/8.0/apache2/php.ini (for Apache)
  • /etc/php/8.0/fpm/php.ini (for Nginx with PHP-FPM)
  • /etc/php/8.0/cli/php.ini (for the command line interface)

What you would need to do is:

  1. Open the appropriate php.ini file for your web server using a text editor. For example:
    sudo nano /etc/php/8.0/apache2/php.ini
    
  2. Update the following settings:
    max_input_vars = 3000
    memory_limit = 256M
    

After making changes to php.ini, restart the web server to apply the changes:

  • For Apache:
    sudo systemctl restart apache2
    
  • For Nginx with PHP-FPM:
    sudo systemctl restart php8.0-fpm
    sudo systemctl restart nginx
    

To check if the change has taken effect, you can create a PHP info file to verify that the changes have taken effect:

  1. Create a file named info.php in your WordPress root directory.
  2. Add the following line to the file:
    <?php phpinfo(); ?>
    
  3. Access this file through your web browser:
    http://yourdomain.com/info.php
    
  4. Look for max_input_vars and memory_limit to see if they reflect your changes.

Let me know how it goes!

- Bobby

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