Downloads Broken After Migration

Hi @wordpresssites,

 I understand you’re experiencing broken product downloads after a migration. That’s definitely frustrating when customers can’t access their purchased files.

Based on the error you’re seeing, this is typically caused by one of a few common issues after migrations:

1. The downloadable files may still be pointing to old server paths or URLs
2. The actual files weren’t transferred during the migration
3. Download permissions or file references got corrupted during the migration process

Here are some immediate steps to check:

First, verify the files exist:

• Go to WooCommerce → Products and edit one of the affected downloadable products
• Check the “Downloadable files” section and make sure the file URLs are correct and accessible
• Try accessing the file URL directly in your browser

Next, check download permissions:

• Go to WooCommerce → Orders and find an affected order
• Look for the downloadable products section and verify that the download permissions are properly set

If that doesn’t help, please share your System Status Report (WooCommerce → Status) if the issue persists, so we can investigate further. You can paste it here using https://pastebin.com/ or https://gist.github.com/.

I hope that helps. Let us know if you need anything else.

Hi there!

Thanks for the additional details and for sharing the direct file URL and system status report. A 403 Forbidden on a file that exists and is referenced correctly almost always points to a server or security rule blocking access rather than missing files or wrong paths.​What to check next

• File/folder permissions: Confirm that wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/ and its files are readable by the web server (typically folders 755 and files 644). Your host can quickly verify and correct this recursively if needed.​
• Security/firewall rules: Check if your host’s WAF, ModSecurity, or any security plugin (e.g. blocking direct access to ZIPs or woocommerce_uploads) is returning the 403. Ask the host to check the server error logs for that exact URL and whitelist it if necessary.​
• Since you already get 403 when opening the file URL directly, WooCommerce’s download handler never gets a chance to serve the file; fixing the server 403 should make the order download links work again.​
• After the host resolves the 403, if you still see issues, try switching the download method under WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Downloadable products (e.g. from “X-Accel/X-Sendfile” to “Redirect only” or “Force downloads”) and test again.​

If you can share what your host finds in the error logs for that URL, it will help narrow down whether it is permissions, rules in .htaccess, or a hosting-level security policy.

Hi @wordpresssites,

Thanks for sharing the details from SiteGround, I can see how this has been a confusing experience after the migration and I am keen to help you move this forward.

What your host shared is accurate. Since X Accel Redirect and X Sendfile are not available on their infrastructure, WooCommerce will not be able to use those methods to serve downloadable files. In this case, switching the download method to Force downloads is the correct and supported approach on SiteGround.

You can update this by going to WooCommerce, Settings, Products, Downloadable products, and setting the file download method to Force downloads. This ensures WooCommerce handles the file delivery itself rather than relying on server level modules.

You can find more details on how WooCommerce handles downloadable products and the available download methods here: https://woocommerce.com/document/digital-downloadable-product-handling/#setup-and-configuration.

After switching to Force downloads, please test one of the affected orders again and confirm whether the download works as expected. If the issue continues after this change, let us know and we can take a closer look at what might still be blocking access.

Hi @wordpresssites,

Thanks for the update! Something is indeed blocking direct access to the files.

Let’s see what it could be:

• Can you please share a screenshot of your WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Downloadable product?
• While less likely if you used a managed migration, incorrect file permissions are a very common post-migration issue that can cause 403 errors. The web server user needs permission to read the files. Please use your host’s File Manager or an FTP client to double-check the permissions for your /wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/ folder and the .zip files inside it. Folders should generally be 755, and files should be 644. Be sure to share a screenshot
• I noticed in your SSR that you have the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin active. Is the product subscription-based? If so, the issue might be related to how Subscriptions handles download permissions specifically, which could require further investigation into that plugin’s setup.

Looking forward to your update and that screenshot! Once we address these points, we should be able to get your downloads working smoothly.

Hi @wordpresssites,

Thanks so much for the update, and I’m really glad you tracked down the cause. Missing files after a migration can definitely lead to confusing 403s, so it’s great that you were able to identify what happened.

I’ll go ahead and close this thread now. If you have a moment, we’d truly appreciate a quick review of your experience with WooCommerce:
https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce/reviews/

Thanks again for working through this with us, and wishing you smooth sailing from here on.