Can't View Your Website Files At Your Host, Web Server or cPanel File Manager? Try These Fixes 

So you are having trouble viewing your website files on your hosting platform or server. You cannot view the website files through cPanel file manager, but your website is running fine. Your website is down and you need access to the files to make some changes or edits. You cannot access wp-admin and you cannot access the website files on the server. Learn in this post a few things to try to fix this problem.

Solution 1

Your Website is Running and You can Access Wp Admin, but you can't view or Edit your Website Files

It's possible you are accessing, checking or viewing the wrong directory for your website. If you have multiple websites on the same web server, endeavor to check if the directory you are view on the server or via your file manager is the same with the website you want to view its files.

If your website is still running fine and you can access wp-admin or the administrative panel for your CMS, a quick work around is to install a file manager plugin to make the changes/configurations you wish to make.

If your website is down, and you have confirmed that you are in the right directory for the website but you still cannot view the website files, trying the following fixes:

If you encounter the issue only in cPanel file manager, try:

1. Accessing the directory via your web host's alternative file manager.

2. Accessing the directory and/or files via FTP

3. Show hidden files in cPanel file manager. See how to below.

If the issue is not only in cPanel file manager, confirm that you are viewing the correct site directory. Sometimes your website files may be located in a different but similar directory. E.g. your files are in 'www.mywebsite.com' but you are view the files in my 'website'. If this is not the case, confirm that there is no malware or virus hiding or concealing your website files. If this is the case, you'll have to remove/destroy the malware. If you don't know how, you can contact  your server support for help you out.

To show hidden files in cPanel, login to your cPanel and open the cPanel file manager. Click 'Settings' at the top right hand corner of the screen. 

Unhiding files in cPanel file manager

Click 'Preferences'. Select the website you wish to configure in the appropriate box and tick the "Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) checkbox. 

Click "Save".

Now you've set up cPanel file manager to show hidden files. If it's a hidden files issue in cPanel file manager, this will fix the problem.

Hope this has helped you fix the inability to view your site files on your web server. Let me know what you think or what worked for you in the comment section below. Cheers!