Theme is missing the style.css stylesheet error

last updated on April 22, 2019 by admin 2

Missing style sheet error when installing the theme

Missing style.css stylesheet

A common issue that can occur when installing a WordPress themes is “The package could not be installed. The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet.” error message being displayed when uploading or activating the theme.

This error message does not mean that the theme you have purchased is broken, it simply means it has been uploaded incorrectly.

You will need to extract/unzip the theme package first that you’ve download from
Member areaor Marketplace (where you purchased the theme).
The package inside including ‘parent theme’, ‘child theme’, demo data and documentation.

Make sure you are uploading only the installable theme (that inside the package you download which is called theme-name.zip) through your WordPress admin section.

When you have uploaded the theme, you will need to activate the theme itself.

There are 2 ways to upload your theme files:

Step 1: Install Theme Via WordPress Dashboard

  • Log in to your WordPress admin area.
  • Go to ‘Appearance > Themes‘ section
  • Click on ‘Add New‘ and select the ‘Upload Theme‘ option
  • Browse and select the theme-name.zip file and press ‘Install Now‘.
  • Click Activate.

or:

Step 2 (Alternative) : Upload/Install Theme Via FTP

Now, you will need to extract again theme-name.zip

1. Access your hosting server using an ftp client like FileZilla
2. Go to the ‘wp-content/themes’ folder of your WordPress installation
3. Browse and select the 'theme-name' folder and put in ‘wp-content/themes/’ folder on your server.
4. Login to your WordPress admin area to change the theme.
5. Go to ‘WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Themes‘ section to activate the theme
6. Click the “Customize” link in Customization box menu to get started customizing theme
7. Click “Save & Publish” the Theme Customizer once, so that a theme customizer default value gets stored in the database.

That’s it! You’re all set and ready to go 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions
  • How to Install Any Premium Theme After Purchasing?
    In order to install any premium theme after purchasing it, please do kindly follow the steps below. 1. Download premium theme file from your account/member dashboard (under Active Resources): https://volthemes.com/member/ 2. Extract the file packages. something like: “vt-blogging-pro-package-2.1-unzipme.zip”. the package including 'parent theme', 'child theme', and link to theme documentation. 3. Login to your WordPress Dashboard >> Appearance >> Themes. 4. Click Add New button at the top. 5. At select input type, select the theme file from your computer. example: "vt-blogging-pro.zip" 6. Once you select the zip theme file, click the upload button 7. It will be installed automatically. Once it is installed click activate it. 8. Done! From this point, you may need a specific theme documentation guide. Kindly visit https://volthemes.com/documentation/ & click on theme guide that you had purchased.
  • Theme is missing the style.css stylesheet error
    A common issue that can occur when installing a WordPress themes is “The package could not be installed. The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet.” error message being displayed when trying to upload or activate the theme. Luckily, there is a very easy fix.  
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