How to change your default images directory in Joomla! 1.5

: Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge; Published: 26 September 2008 26 September 2008

One of the most annoying things about Joomla! (in my opinion) is that the default images directory (or folder, whatever you want to call it) is yoursite.com/images/stories, and the default directory for the media manager is yoursite.com/images. That makes no sense to me. Read on to find out why this makes no sense, and how you can easily fix it.

Adding images to articles

One of the great new features in Joomla! 1.5 is the nice little "Images" button at the bottom of the text editor in the article manager. That button launches a pop-up in which you can easily locate the image you wish to use and add it to your article.

The only problem is, this nice little pop-up starts at the default images directory (yoursite.com/images/stories) and not the default media directory (yoursite.com/images). If your images are not in yoursite.com/images/stories or some sub directory of this folder, then you will not be able to get to it from the image locator.

The Solution

Fortunately, the core team in their infinite wisdom decided to make it possible for you to change which directory acts as the default images directory. Here's how.

First, you need to log in to yoursite.com/administrator and navigate to the global configuration manager either by clicking on the "Global Configuration" button in the main control panel or by clicking "Site->Global Configuration" in the administrator main menu.

The Global Configuration is divided into 3 main sections: Site, System, and Server. Click on "System" to view the System configuration and scroll down to media settings, which you can see in the following screen shot.

Media Settings

Change "Path to Image Folder" to your desired location. This path should be relative to the root of your site. So for example, if you wanted your images folder to be "monkeys" for some strange reason, then you would simply type "monkeys" in the box. I usually just change it to "images" to match the "Path to Media Folder" value, but you can set it to whatever you want it to be. Just make sure that the location you choose actually exists on your server.

Finally, click "Save" and you're all set. Now your default images directory is a location that actually makes sense for your site. That's all there is to it.