If you’re experiencing issues with File and/or Folder Protection and are running on an Nginx server (you can contact your host if you’re unsure if your server is running Nginx), you can do the following:
Add the following line to your Nginx site configuration’s server {} block:
include [path to wp-content/uploads]/wlm_file_protect_nginx.conf;
Note: You will need to switch out “path to wp-content” with the actual server path. If you are not sure how to do this, please contact your host and they can assist you. They should be able to handle that for you.
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WP Engine – Cache Exclude
If your site is hosted with WP Engine and you find the files are not being protected as expected, there are some adjustments WP Engine can make on their side.
Files you want to protect must have the following prefix:
protected-
Example: integration-instructions.pdf must be changed to protected-integration-instructions.pdf
You will also need to ask WP Engine to Not cache files with the protected- prefix on the file name.
Example: Caching should not be applied to a file named like the following: protected-integration-instructions.pdf
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SiteGround – NGINX Direct Delivery
If your site is hosted with SiteGround and File and/or Folder Protection is still not working after applying the Nginx server {} block configuration described above, it's possible the protected files are being served from cache through SiteGround's NGINX Direct Delivery feature.
This feature serves static files (such as images, PDFs, and other assets) directly through NGINX, bypassing WishList Member's protection layer.
Disabling NGINX Direct Delivery should resolve the issue:
- Log in to SiteGround and open Site Tools for your site.
- Go to Speed > Caching > NGINX Direct Delivery.
- Toggle the setting Off for the domain.
File and Folder Protection should work as expected once it's disabled. (This turns off SiteGround's static-file caching for the site.)
