# Change nginx user in config \>\> 403 error index.html forbidden

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907>\
**Category:** NGINX\
**Created:** [September 16, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907 "2011-09-16T18:17:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/luislavena)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907/1 "2011-09-16T18:17:36Z")

</div>

Hi All,

I have just installed NGINX 1.1.2. I made my own configuration and  
makefile and installed the nginx server.  
When I set the config to:  
user root root;  
I get the hello world index.html file provided by the nginx installer  
(./html/index.html).

When I set the config to:  
user nginx nginx;  
(which is what I want), I get a 403 message. The error.log says the  
index.html is forbidden.

These are the file permissions I have set on the files in the ./html  
directory:  
total 16  
-rw-r–r-- 1 someowner nginx 383 Sep 16 15:27 50x.html  
-rw-r–r-- 1 someowner nginx 151 Sep 16 15:27 index.html  
-rw-r–r-- 1 someowner nginx 6971 Sep 16 15:27 ngx\_core\_module.html

The nginx user is a member of the nginx group (which has the required  
permission to view the index.html):  
$ groups nginx  
returns:  
nginx : nginx

So, what should I do to give the worker processes of nginx access to  
these files? I’m at a loss here.

I would greatly appreciate any help!

Best regards,  
Martijn.

ps this is the content of my nginx.conf:

user root root;  
worker\_processes 4;

#error\_log logs/error.log;  
#error\_log logs/error.log notice;  
#error\_log logs/error.log info;

#pid logs/nginx.pid;

events {  
worker\_connections 128;  
}

http {  
include mime.types;  
default\_type application/octet-stream;

```
#log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local]

```

“$request” ’  
# '$status $body\_bytes\_sent “$http\_referer” ’  
# ‘“$http\_user\_agent” “$http\_x\_forwarded\_for”’;

```
#access_log logs/access.log main;

sendfile on;
#tcp_nopush on;

#keepalive_timeout 0;
keepalive_timeout 65;

#gzip on;

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;

    #charset koi8-r;

    #access_log logs/host.access.log main;

    location / {
        root html;
        index index.html index.htm;
    }

    #error_page 404 /404.html;

    # redirect server error pages to the static page /50x.html
    #
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root html;
    }

    # proxy the PHP scripts to Apache listening on 127.0.0.1:80
    #
    #location ~ \.php$ {
    # proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1;
    #}

    # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on

```

127.0.0.1:9000  
#  
#location ~ .php$ {  
# root html;  
# fastcgi\_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;  
# fastcgi\_index index.php;  
# fastcgi\_param SCRIPT\_FILENAME  
/scripts$fastcgi\_script\_name;  
# include fastcgi\_params;  
#}

```
    # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
    # concurs with nginx's one
    #
    #location ~ /\.ht {
    #
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root html;
    }

    # proxy the PHP scripts to Apache listening on 127.0.0.1:80
    #
    #location ~ \.php$ {
    # proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1;
    #}

    # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on

```

127.0.0.1:9000  
#  
#location ~ .php$ {  
# root html;  
# fastcgi\_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;  
# fastcgi\_index index.php;  
# fastcgi\_param SCRIPT\_FILENAME  
/scripts$fastcgi\_script\_name;  
# include fastcgi\_params;  
#}

```
    # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
    # concurs with nginx's one
    #
    #location ~ /\.ht {
    # deny all;
    #}
}

# another virtual host using mix of IP-, name-, and port-based

```

configuration  
#  
#Server {  
# listen 8000;  
# listen somename:8080;  
# server\_name somename alias another.alias;

```
# location / {
# root html;
# index index.html index.htm;
# }
#}

# HTTPS server
#
#server {
# listen 443;
# server_name localhost;

# ssl on;
# ssl_certificate cert.pem;
# ssl_certificate_key cert.key;

# ssl_session_timeout 5m;

# ssl_protocols SSLv2 SSLv3 TLSv1;
# ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
# ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

# location / {
# root html;
# index index.html index.htm;
# }
#}

```

}

Posted at Nginx Forum:

> **[change nginx user in config \>\> 403 error index.html forbidden](https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,215310,215310#msg-215310)**
>
> Hi All, I have just installed NGINX 1.1.2. I made my own configuration and makefile and installed the nginx server. When I set the config to: user root root; I get the hello world index.html file provided by the nginx installer (./html/index.html).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/martijnsenden)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907/2 "2011-09-16T18:25:00Z")

</div>

Hello!

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 12:16:56PM -0400, martijnsenden wrote:

> user nginx nginx;  
> The nginx user is a member of the nginx group (which has the required  
> permission to view the index.html):  
> $ groups nginx  
> returns:  
> nginx : nginx
> 
> So, what should I do to give the worker processes of nginx access to  
> these files? I’m at a loss here.

Make sure nginx use have at least search permissions for all  
directories above document root.

Maxim D.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/martijnsenden)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907/3 "2011-09-17T12:10:36Z")

</div>

Thanks! I guess by search permissions you mean read permission, not  
write or execute?

Regards,  
Martijn Senden.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/martijnsenden)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907/4 "2011-09-17T12:16:13Z")

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Some googling told me search permission is often used as an alternate  
name for execute permission. Thanks, I’ll try this!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@martijnsenden](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/martijnsenden)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/change-nginx-user-in-config-403-error-index-html-forbidden/211907/5 "2011-09-17T12:27:40Z")

</div>

Thanks! With this I got it to work! I changed the group of the server  
folder and the nginx folder to nginx with the chown command and set the  
permissions to (at least) execute, and now I get the welcome page! Thank  
you very much! This was starting to give me headaches yesterday. 😉