To begin, decide which directory you would like to password protect note that all files and subdirectories within the directory will be password protected, then create a. So things may look or work a bit different depending on which version of windows youre using. Forcing a file to download in a browser via htaccess. Perhaps add backup to the end of the existing file name. Url re writes and providing passwordprotected directories. Htaccess passwordprotection tricks perishable press. Make sure you know where it lands on your computer. The simplest way i know to password protect files and directories using apaches. Fortunately, preventing access to your htaccess files is very easy. How to reset the htaccess file of your wordpress site.
The username and password are separated by a colon in a text file that is used by. If you want to password protect some of your web pages, then you need to use a. By default, the login prompt you see is not encrypted. Often used in combination with the apache webserver to protect a directory or file from unauthorized access. It encrypts the desired passwords, then outputs the corresponding codes to put inside your. Htpasswd generator password protect web folder and website with. Modern browsers have very good file handling capabilities but there are times when you would prefer to force a file to download rather than have it opened in the browser. How to have a whitelist of ip addresses that can access files in. The period dot at the beginning of the filename indicates the file is hidden.
The password is encrypted using the unix systems crypt method and may use md5 or sha1. Make sure you are able to view hidden files you should now be in the root folder of the domain you chose. Use the authuserfile directive to point apache to the password file we created. However, if you want to force files to be downloaded, adding the following in your. Create password credentials for htaccess and htpasswd. For the authname, choose a realm name that will be displayed to the user when prompting for credentials. Test your website to make sure it is done correctly. Url rewrites and providing passwordprotected directories. This is so that folks cannot download the password file.
Thanks, but this feature doesnt appear to kick in in time to prevent my server from attempting to load the ssl certificate. How to force file downloads with the htaccess file inmotion hosting. Quite a few servers support it, like apache which most commercial hosting providers tend to favor. That said, this will not work for windows based servers as the architecture and commands are all different for windows. Create a file using a text editor such as notepad or. Protecting your sites htaccess files is critical to maintaining a secure environment. This program is a freeware program and you may use it free of charge during unlimited time. I recently needed to force a pdf to download using apache.
In my article, stupid htaccess tricks, i show how to passwordprotect a directory for every ip except the one specified, but not for the reverse case. If you search around the web, you will probably find several different methods of protecting your. How to set up password authentication with apache on. If you would like force users to download files rather than view them in the. To password protect just a single file in a folder, use the following.
In this article, i will demonstrate this technique along with a wide variety of other useful password. The period that starts the file name will keep the file hidden within the folder. Making a downloadable file password protected on webpage stack. Htpasswd generator software represents a user admin tool designed for apache web server. Htaccess hypertext access is a simple configuration file that allows designers, developers and programmers alike to alter the configuration of the apache web server in order to provide. This works for most cases, but if your goal is to have your users actually download the file, you can make it easier for them by forcing the. Force download of specific file types tutorial by computer expert 16092014 at 23. This method works for any site running on an apache server. As you know, htaccess files are powerful tools for manipulating site performance and functionality. Make sure you add this file to the directory you want to password protect. Note that i no longer use windows, so the screenshots here are from winxp which was the last version of windows that i owned.
Recently a reader asked about how to passwordprotect a directory for every specified ip while allowing open access to everyone else. This tutorial will tell you stepbystep what you need to do. Improve site security by protecting htaccess files. How to password protect a single file with htaccess. Make sure to check if there are existing entries for any of the following settings in your. I ended using php to set the correct headers to force the download because i couldnt afford to put an. In this video, i demonstrate how to password protect a directory on an apache web server using the. If you are using cpanel, click the settings button in the upperright corner, then select show hidden files, then click save. For beginners and home using we recommend to use the free htpasswd generator lite version.
This directive specifies, in categories, what directives will be honored if they are found in a. I want to confirm that can we use this to access server side settings configuration that allows the. On servers that run apache a web server software, the. The default behaviour for most browsers is to try to open the pdf inside the browser itself. A second usernamepassword combo can be added by typing. What you can put in these files is determined by the allowoverride directive. Within filezilla, rename the downloaded file the one on your computer back to the original file name.
Htaccess hypertext access is a simple configuration file that allows. If your website is running on a linuxapache based shared web server, your web server is sure to support the. This script generates an encrypted password for use in a. If you get a popup box, simply find and click the edit button in the lower right corner to continue to the editor. Use this tool to generate all the necessary codes needed to password protect a directory or selects files within it on your site via. This is fine for a small pdf or for powerful machines but a large pdf on even a modest machine can often lock the browser up. Brute force login protection will only work if your.