Answered Cannot get friendly URLs to work

Hi
Wonder if anyone can advise me how to get Friendly URLS working. I have followed the instructions at https://docs.modx.com/revolution/2.x/administering-your-site/using-friendly-urls but think the location of my .htaccess file may the problem and not knowing about re-writes I do not know what to do.

My modx install in is in a direction called public_html
As per the instructions on installation I moved the .htaccess file to a sub-folder called core.
I still have the ht.access file at the root of the MODX install.

The contents of both files are below - any chance someone could tell me what I need to alter to not get a 404 error message - Much appreciated.

.htaccess file contents:

IndexIgnore */*
<Files *>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>
# MODX supports Friendly URLs via this .htaccess file. You must serve web
# pages via Apache with mod_rewrite to use this functionality, and you must
# change the file name from ht.access to .htaccess.
#
# Make sure RewriteBase points to the directory where you installed MODX.
# E.g., "/modx" if your installation is in a "modx" subdirectory.
#
# You may choose to make your URLs non-case-sensitive by adding a NC directive
# to your rule: RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA,NC]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /


# Rewrite www.domain.com -> domain.com -- used with SEO Strict URLs plugin
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^example-domain-please-change\.com [NC]
#RewriteRule (.*) http://example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#
# or for the opposite domain.com -> www.domain.com use the following
# DO NOT USE BOTH
#
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example-domain-please-change\.com [NC]
#RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# Rewrite secure requests properly to prevent SSL cert warnings, e.g. prevent
# https://www.domain.com when your cert only allows https://secure.domain.com
#RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443
#RewriteRule (.*) https://example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# The Friendly URLs part
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]

# Make sure .htc files are served with the proper MIME type, which is critical
# for XP SP2. Un-comment if your host allows htaccess MIME type overrides.

#AddType text/x-component .htc

# If your server is not already configured as such, the following directive
# should be uncommented in order to set PHP's register_globals option to OFF.
# This closes a major security hole that is abused by most XSS (cross-site
# scripting) attacks. For more information: http://php.net/register_globals
#
# To verify that this option has been set to OFF, open the Manager and choose
# Reports -> System Info and then click the phpinfo() link. Do a Find on Page
# for "register_globals". The Local Value should be OFF. If the Master Value
# is OFF then you do not need this directive here.
#
# IF REGISTER_GLOBALS DIRECTIVE CAUSES 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERRORS :
#
# Your server does not allow PHP directives to be set via .htaccess. In that
# case you must make this change in your php.ini file instead. If you are
# using a commercial web host, contact the administrators for assistance in
# doing this. Not all servers allow local php.ini files, and they should
# include all PHP configurations (not just this one), or you will effectively
# reset everything to PHP defaults. Consult www.php.net for more detailed
# information about setting PHP directives.

#php_flag register_globals Off

# For servers that support output compression, you should pick up a bit of
# speed by un-commenting the following lines.

#php_flag zlib.output_compression On
#php_value zlib.output_compression_level 5

# The following directives stop screen flicker in IE on CSS rollovers. If
# needed, un-comment the following rules. When they're in place, you may have
# to do a force-refresh in order to see changes in your designs.

#ExpiresActive On
#ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/png A2592000
#BrowserMatch "MSIE" brokenvary=1
#BrowserMatch "Mozilla/4.[0-9]{2}" brokenvary=1
#BrowserMatch "Opera" !brokenvary
#SetEnvIf brokenvary 1 force-no-vary

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On

# Adaptive-Images -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Add any directories you wish to omit from the Adaptive-Images process on a new line, as follows:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !some-directory
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !another-directory

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !assets

# Send any GIF, JPG, or PNG request that IS NOT stored inside one of the above directories
# to adaptive-images.php so we can select appropriately sized versions
RewriteRule \.(?:jpe?g|gif|png)$ adaptive-images.php

# END Adaptive-Images -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</IfModule>






ht.access file contents:



# line below if for Apache 2.2
<ifModule !mod_authz_core.c>
deny from all
Satisfy All
</ifModule>

# section for Apache 2.2 and 2.4
IndexIgnore *

You should have that main .htaccess file in the root of your site and another .htaccess file in your core folder with contents something like...



BUT you should also remove those 5 lines of code from the top of your .htaccess file. Obviously you're not telling us much about your set up so I can only speak in terms of the way I have things set up.

Hi Chrisandy

If i copy the .htaccess file in core to public - keeping indexignore... in the core folder but all else in the .htaccess copy in public_html I now get a 403 error and cant even get back into MODX.

I get this message



I also dont understand because when you get a set up of MODX, it says move the .htaccess file from the root directory?

Sorry to be so confused and incompetent! Advice most welcome.

To give some more info

The MODX tutorial says:

The .htaccess file can be anywhere above the MODX installation but the usual location is in the MODX site root (along with the ht.access file, and the assets, manager and connectors directories). You can also put the file in /htdocs or /public_html or what ever your server uses as long as it is in, or above, the MODX root directory.

However, when I try copy it to the public_html directory I then cant access MODX or the site - I get a 500 error message - "internal server error". Can anyone advise about this?

Su

Does it work if you put it in the MODX site root?

Hi Bob

When I tried to move the .htaccess file into the public_html directory I was locked out of the MODX manager getting a 403 message. My hosting company have created a .htaccess file there but whilst I can get back into the MODX manager I am still seeing a 403 message when i try and view any pages on the site now that I have friendly URLs enabled.

Is public_html the MODX site root (containing the assets, manager, and connectors directories)?

Make sure you have this tag in the head section of all MODX templates:

Is it possible that you've copied the wrong .htaccess file to the root?

It should be the same as the ht.access file in the MODX root. You can either rename that, or (better), create a new file called .htaccess and paste the content of ht.access into it.

Also, see my post just above.

Hi Bob

<base href="[[!++site_url]]" /> - Got that!
Yes, I now have a .htaccess file in the root (my hosting provider created one there). Public_html is where all the other modx folders like assets are sitting. BUT they have left the .htaccess file I originally moved from root to the Core folder. This means I now have two .htaccess files (one in Core the other in root) and one ht.access file in root.

The two .htaccess files have different contents - and neither replicate the ht.access file. I have copied them all below.

Any further advice is much appreciated as whilst I can see my holding page ok, whenever I try and view the site via the MODX manager I get this error message:

_____

403 - Forbidden Error
You are not allowed to access this address.
If the error persists, please contact the website webmaster.
If you are the webmaster of this site please log in to Cpanel and check the Error Logs. You will find the exact reason for this error there.

Common reasons for this error are:

Incorrect file/directory permissions: Below 644.
In order files to be read by the webserver, their permissions have to be equal or above 644. You can update file permissions with a FTP client or through cPanel's File Manager.


Restrictive Apache directives inside .htaccess file.
There are two Apache directives which can cause this error - 'Deny from' and 'Options -Indexes'.

______

CONTENTS OF THE HT.ACCESS FILE (SITTING IN ROOT):




CONTENTS OF THE .HTACCESS FILE IN ROOT




CONTENTS OF THE .HTACCESS FILE IN THE CORE DIRECTORY

IndexIgnore */*
<Files *>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>

This is the .htaccess file in core


IndexIgnore */*
<Files *>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>
# MODX supports Friendly URLs via this .htaccess file. You must serve web
# pages via Apache with mod_rewrite to use this functionality, and you must
# change the file name from ht.access to .htaccess.
#
# Make sure RewriteBase points to the directory where you installed MODX.
# E.g., "/modx" if your installation is in a "modx" subdirectory.
#
# You may choose to make your URLs non-case-sensitive by adding a NC directive
# to your rule: RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA,NC]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /




# Rewrite www.domain.com -> domain.com -- used with SEO Strict URLs plugin
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^example-domain-please-change\.com [NC]
#RewriteRule (.*) http://example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#
# or for the opposite domain.com -> www.domain.com use the following
# DO NOT USE BOTH
#
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example-domain-please-change\.com [NC]
#RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]



# Rewrite secure requests properly to prevent SSL cert warnings, e.g. prevent
# https://www.domain.com when your cert only allows https://secure.domain.com
#RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443
#RewriteRule (.*) https://example-domain-please-change.com/$1 [R=301,L]



# The Friendly URLs part
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]



# Make sure .htc files are served with the proper MIME type, which is critical
# for XP SP2. Un-comment if your host allows htaccess MIME type overrides.

#AddType text/x-component .htc



# If your server is not already configured as such, the following directive
# should be uncommented in order to set PHP's register_globals option to OFF.
# This closes a major security hole that is abused by most XSS (cross-site
# scripting) attacks. For more information: http://php.net/register_globals
#
# To verify that this option has been set to OFF, open the Manager and choose
# Reports -> System Info and then click the phpinfo() link. Do a Find on Page
# for "register_globals". The Local Value should be OFF. If the Master Value
# is OFF then you do not need this directive here.
#
# IF REGISTER_GLOBALS DIRECTIVE CAUSES 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERRORS :
#
# Your server does not allow PHP directives to be set via .htaccess. In that
# case you must make this change in your php.ini file instead. If you are
# using a commercial web host, contact the administrators for assistance in
# doing this. Not all servers allow local php.ini files, and they should
# include all PHP configurations (not just this one), or you will effectively
# reset everything to PHP defaults. Consult www.php.net for more detailed
# information about setting PHP directives.

#php_flag register_globals Off



# For servers that support output compression, you should pick up a bit of
# speed by un-commenting the following lines.

#php_flag zlib.output_compression On
#php_value zlib.output_compression_level 5



# The following directives stop screen flicker in IE on CSS rollovers. If
# needed, un-comment the following rules. When they're in place, you may have
# to do a force-refresh in order to see changes in your designs.

#ExpiresActive On
#ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/png A2592000
#BrowserMatch "MSIE" brokenvary=1
#BrowserMatch "Mozilla/4.[0-9]{2}" brokenvary=1
#BrowserMatch "Opera" !brokenvary
#SetEnvIf brokenvary 1 force-no-vary


<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On

# Adaptive-Images -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Add any directories you wish to omit from the Adaptive-Images process on a new line, as follows:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !some-directory
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !another-directory

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !assets

# Send any GIF, JPG, or PNG request that IS NOT stored inside one of the above directories
# to adaptive-images.php so we can select appropriately sized versions
RewriteRule \.(?:jpe?g|gif|png)$ adaptive-images.php

# END Adaptive-Images -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</IfModule>

You seem to be contradicting yourself - what is in the .htaccess file in public_html?