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Wordpress wants me to update .htaccess

by sylviad
26 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
I just tried to change the Permalink structure to that it's customized with %postname% but when I did that, it asked me to update my .htaccess

I've looked through all the files in my Wordpress and site and cannot find this file.

Can someone tell me where to find it?

Thanks.

Sylvia
#htaccess #update #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    You can put a "blank" .htaccess file into the folder where your blog is
    with an FTP program. Change the permissions (CHMOD) to 755 with
    your FTP program. Then retry the permalink update...

    Hope that helps...

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Thanks Dave,

      I guess I should have included the entire message I got.

      It said that:

      If your .htaccess file were writable, we could do this automatically, but it isn't so these are the mod_rewrite rules you should have in your .htaccess file. Click in the field and press CTRL + a to select all.

      But then it doesn't tell me where to find that file. Would it work if I do as you say, only fill it with the contents that it gives me that should be included in the file?

      My concern is that if there already is this file in there somewhere, I don't want to accidentally overwrite it if it's going to be used by another area of my site. My blog is just one element of my site. The site itself is not a blog.

      Thanks.

      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    If your blog is in a folder, the .htaccess file is in that folder...

    All you need to do, is change the "permissions" to make it writable...
    No need, "really", to do all the cutting and pasting, tho you can if you want...
    Change the permissions (CHMOD) to 755 with
    your FTP program. Then retry the permalink update...
    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Sorry, nope! I looked in the WP folder several times and didn't see such a file. There are folders within the WP folder though. Is there one in particular where it might be? I did look, again several times, but didn't see it anywhere.

      Would I then just create the file and stick it in the main WP folder? Or does it need to be in one of those other folders?

      and would it need to be a .php file?

      Thanks

      Sylvia
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      • Profile picture of the author sylviad
        Ok. That's bizarre.

        I created the file like you said and filled it with the contents that WP expects to see and uploaded it with my FTP program.

        But even though it says it transferred it, it's not showing in the directory.
        I've done it several times, checked "DirInfo", and it just is not listed.

        Can I not create a .php file with Notepad?

        Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    Some FTP programs (and cpanel filemanagers) hide "dot" files...
    It may also be in the root folder (public_html) for that domain...

    Check that, or...

    PM ftp access credentials, and I will CHMOD for you...
    (you can change the creds afterwards...)

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    It's not a php file...

    It is a ".htaccess" file... Nothing before the dot.

    Who are you hosting the blog on with? Are they using linux or windows?
    If it is windows - I can't help, don't know windows server stuff...

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
      Sylvia,

      a lot of hosting companies hide those files so you can not see it...

      what ever is the root directory of your blog is where you'll find the .htaccess file so it should be in the same place as your wp-config.php file
      if you can't see it..try to log in to your hosting account cPanel and locate the .htaccess file using your File Manager

      then change permissions from there

      that's all you need to do

      if you still are having problems, please send me a pm
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      • Profile picture of the author sylviad
        Crap! Now I can't get into my wp-content folder - it says Access Denied.
        And my blog is gone.

        When it happened, I had copied that .htaccess.php (the file I created just like that) into the wp-Content folder (or maybe it was a new file named .htaccess as you said it should be - I don't remember now). When that didn't work, I tried to change the permissions on the folder itself. And then it said Theme not available - but I didn't do anything in the theme folder. and then the blog disappeared.

        My FTP program doesn't allow me to change any numbers. All I can do is check 9 boxes. (Owner, Group, Other). with options for read, write and execute.

        They were set:

        read, read, read
        write 0 write
        0 0 0

        So under Group, in the last row I checked the box for execute.

        That's when things went wrong. I went in and changed the execute back to 0 but my blog is still gone.

        Now what?

        Sylvia
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        • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
          Sylvia,

          What FTP program are you using?
          your blog is not gone...just FTP to your site and remove the .htaccess file you just uploaded in wp-content directory
          or login to your site cPanel and use the File Manager to delete if you don't see it when you FTP

          The .htaccess file should be in the WordPress root directory only as in the same place where your wp-config.php file is!

          by putting it in the wp-content you locked out the theme files so that is why it looks like your blog is gone
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          • Profile picture of the author sylviad
            Originally Posted by Karen Blundell View Post

            Sylvia,

            What FTP program are you using?
            your blog is not gone...just FTP to your site and remove the .htaccess file you just uploaded in wp-content directory
            or login to your site cPanel and use the File Manager to delete if you don't see it when you FTP

            The .htaccess file should be in the WordPress root directory only as in the same place where your wp-config.php file is!

            by putting it in the wp-content you locked out the theme files so that is why it looks like your blog is gone
            Thanks for your feedback, Karen.

            I'm using WS_FTP95 - a free version that you can't get anymore. The replacements only give a trial period and then you have to buy it. But thanks to Dave I see that I CAN change permissions now that I know what the permissions window means (it's not numbers as it is with another FTP program I used). Apparently, it's a code. :rolleyes:

            In my earlier online days, I would have freaked out when my blog vanished, but I'm so much wiser now and was pretty sure everything would still be there when I fixed things.

            As I said, I cannot see the htaccess file anywhere in my server files. I suspect it's hidden, like Dave said. And I don't have CPanel, so I can't go that route. At this point, I'm not sure exactly "where" the file ended up because Ithink I put it in the root and the content folders. Fortunately, it didn't matter because changing the permissions on the content folder seemed to fix everything. (see my other post)

            Thanks again for your help.

            Sylvia
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            • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
              glad you got it sorted, Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    The FTP program should allow changes to the .htaccess file...
    See CHMOD pictures for more info...

    Hope that helps...

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Dave, you're a lifesaver!

      I got my blog back. Whew! That was a bit tense.
      Whatever happened, I ended up having to reset the theme.

      But... thanks to you, I now know what the heck that
      file permissions window means. I just bookmarked that
      page you gave me and printed out the appropriate image.

      My host does not provide a CPanel and the FTP program is
      a cheap freebie with limited functions, which might be why
      I can't see that file. But whatever I did, the problem seems
      to have corrected itself because my post page now has the
      article title as an extension, instead of the post number.

      So as far as I can tell, all is well!

      Thank you so much, Dave. Who would have known that this
      one exercise could teach so much?

      Best of Success!

      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author ECS Dave
    Also, I mentioned it is NOT a php file...
    The file name, in its entirety is:

    .htaccess

    Be Well!
    ECS Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Originally Posted by ECS Dave View Post

      Also, I mentioned it is NOT a php file...
      The file name, in its entirety is:

      .htaccess

      Be Well!
      ECS Dave
      Yes, that is what I changed it to at the end. I thought it was odd having a dot at the beginning. But I still can't see it in my server files. As long as it works now, I guess that doesn't matter.

      I can't help wondering what I might have overwritten when I created my own file and how it might affect something else.

      I think the cure was to change the settings on the wp-content folder - which I was able to do thanks to your link.

      Sylvia
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      • Profile picture of the author NetMan
        Originally Posted by sylviad View Post

        Yes, that is what I changed it to at the end. I thought it was odd having a dot at the beginning. But I still can't see it in my server files. As long as it works now, I guess that doesn't matter.

        I can't help wondering what I might have overwritten when I created my own file and how it might affect something else.

        I think the cure was to change the settings on the wp-content folder - which I was able to do thanks to your link.

        Sylvia
        Hi Syl,

        The only reason you will not see the DOT files is because your FTP client hides it from you (though sometimes host do, apparently, but not good ones, I have yet to see this anyway), you should be able to change this in the preferences of your FTP client.

        Secondly, you should be able to see the .htaccess file from file manager in your cpanel anyway, and you should be able to change its permission (CHMOD) to be writable which in 90% of the cases will be 777. Through your FTP client if you can't type the numbers you check all 9 boxes.

        Then, go to your WP dashboard, permalink and save the changes again, it will now write the necessary strings to your .htaccess file.

        After, that change the .htaccess permission's back to 644 for security's sake.

        There you have it all

        Best reagrds,

        Andre Foisy
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        • Profile picture of the author sylviad
          Hi Andre,

          Thank you for your tips.

          No, the FTP client doesn't have anywhere in the preferences to set this - I already looked. Probably because this is a free client from way back probably about 10 years now. The newer ones probably have it but it's not worth it for me to buy a client when this one does what I need.

          Plus, my host does not provide a CPanel, so there's nothing I can do about that.

          Thanks to Dave's link, however, I was able to figure out how to set the numbered preferences on the FTP window that only shows tick-boxes. Apparently, each box/line represents a certain number. You check the boxes that equate to the numbers you need to get, like, 777, which would be all boxes checked.

          While I was unable to locate ("see") the . file, I managed to get it working by setting the entire content folder to the number I needed. I can only guess that it automatically sets those hidden files.

          So all's well.

          Sylvia
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          • Profile picture of the author NetMan
            Originally Posted by sylviad View Post

            Hi Andre,

            The newer ones probably have it but it's not worth it for me to buy a client when this one does what I need.
            You do not know Filezilla?

            Tsssk tsssk
            FileZilla - Screenshots

            Not completely true that the one you have does what you need btw, you needed to see the .htaccess and to chmod file to 777 ...

            Andre
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  • Profile picture of the author Flyingpig7
    Thanks Slyvia,
    I found this a very useful/educational thread I too could not find the .htaccess file should I need it for anything. I had heard of it discussed elsewhere and tried looking for it in my wp blog. With the above info I found it great, thanks. Now I'm off to read the CHMOD page :->

    Cheers
    Keren
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    Have a great day

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  • Profile picture of the author Hellas
    If you use x3 theme in cpanel and cpanel file manager, then you will not see the
    .htaccess file. Also in some FTP managers you should tick show hidden files checkbox.
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Originally Posted by NetMan View Post

      You do not know Filezilla?

      Tsssk tsssk
      FileZilla - Screenshots

      Not completely true that the one you have does what you need btw, you needed to see the .htaccess and to chmod file to 777 ...

      Andre
      OH YEAH! Lookie there! Geesh, I forgot I had that. There it is, right in my Start Menu!

      But I can see why I hadn't used that -- too many windows/frames.

      But thanks for the reminder. I'll try it again if I have another problem like this.

      Originally Posted by Hellas View Post

      If you use x3 theme in cpanel and cpanel file manager, then you will not see the
      .htaccess file. Also in some FTP managers you should tick show hidden files checkbox.
      My FTP manager does not give you a "show hidden files" option - that was one of the first things I looked for when they told me about hidden . files. And as I've said several times, I do not have CPanel with this host.

      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewL
    Are you running the latest wp? If not, you should update just for security.
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    Get your wordpress site set up for free. PM me or visit http://freewordpresssetup.com for details.

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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Hi Andrew,

      You are right, of course, I do need to upgrade and have been thinking about doing so for awhile now. The thing is, it takes time and there are too many other things that are more important at the moment. My version is about 5 behind.

      Sylvia
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      • Profile picture of the author SeaofSuccess
        Hello,

        I just completed a fresh WP sub-directory install (mydomain.com/WP). Keeping in mind this is a fresh Domain also. (therefore root .htaccess is blank, yet exists; as a template, let's say)
        1. I simply used FileZilla to nav to .htaccess file, in root folder of new domain
        2. Downloaded .htaccess to my client folder of choice
        3. Nav to blog directory folder "WP"
        4. Copied (or uploaded) it to sub folder (/WP) with FileZilla
        5. Then drilled down to it in domain via CPanel/LegacyFileManager
        6. Clicked filename .htaccess and then clicked "change permissions
        7. Changed to chmod = 766
        8. Returned to Permalinks section of WP Admin Settings, and clicked "Save Changes" (My changes were Custom Structure Permalinks)
        9. Received "Permalink Structure Updated" Confirmation
        10. Repeated Step 5 & 6 above
        11. Changed to chmod = 644 (for security of course)
        12. Viola!
        Helpful link: Search: Using Permalinks WordPress Codex

        I hope this is helpful for those installing WP in a Sub-Directory on a NEW Domain, or even to Root Installers who can decipher the shortcuts within the tips mentioned.

        SeaofSuccess.com
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  • Profile picture of the author bobmcalister
    thanks ..that helps a lot ...anyone pm if you have a video on bloggin in word press thank you
    gladly pay for someone who can teach
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