Apache Web Server .htaccess File Configuration Not working

Q. I'm using CentOS Linux server with Apache 2 and PHP. I've created .htaccess file for URL rewrting and other configuration options. However, my Apache version 2 .htaccess configuration is not working at all. How do I fix this problem?

Q. .htaccess is Apache's directory-level configuration file. It allows end user to congigure authentication and other options without editing main httpd.conf file.

Make sure AccessFileName set to .htaccess

Search httpd.conf for AccessFileName directive. It defines name of the distributed configuration file:
# grep -i AccessFileName httpd.conf

Make sure users are allowed to use .htaccess file

What you can put in these files is determined by the AllowOverride directive. This directive specifies, in categories, what directives will be honored if they are found in a .htaccess file. If this directive is set to None, then .htaccess files are completely ignored. In this case, the server will not even attempt to read .htaccess files in the filesystem.
# grep -i AllowOverride httpd.conf
When this directive is set to All, then any directive which has the .htaccess Context is allowed in .htaccess files:
AllowOverride ALL
Save and close the file. Restart httpd:
# service httpd restart

See also:

• See how to set password protected directory under Apache server
• Apache Tutorial: .htaccess files

Featured Articles:

• 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
• My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
• 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009
• Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
• Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
• Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
• Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software