.htaccess redirect problem

Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 4:27 pm (17 years, 11 months ago)

I'm a designer more than a developer so I'd really appreciate some help with this.

It seems a very straightforward problem. I use .htaccess to protect a section of a client's site, successfully, in conjunction with an .htpasswd file which sits outsite the public root. When login fails, I get the usual Apache 401 screen which looks like ****, so I've included an ErrorDocument redirect to my own error page (401.html), and the htaccess looks like this:

AuthUserFile /home/user/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Students"
AuthType Basic
ErrorDocument 401 http://www.myclient.co.uk/401.html

<Limit GET POST PUT>
require valid-user
</Limit>

It doesn't work. It just goes to the Apache 401 page without redirecting.

Surely login failure redirection to a more attractive page than Apache's effort is common? Help me here - this makes sense to me so I don't understand why it won't work.

Thanks

James

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 8:01 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Have you tried "ErrorDocument /401.html" rather than using a full URL?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 8:57 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Hi Adam,

thanks for your reply.

The problem here is that in order to use /401.html I'd have to put the error document in the protected folder. When I do this, login failure brings the login dialogue back up continuously and doesn't render the error page, presumably because accessing the 401.html file requires authentication as well. The cancel button has no effect. Can I keep the error document in the public root and use ErrorDocument 401 /../401.html or something like it? I don't seem to be able to get this to work either.

James

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:01 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

I see. Rather than putting the ErrorDocument line in the .htaccess file in the protected directory, you could put it in a .htaccess file in the parent directory.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:13 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

As I understand it, the .htaccess file that's in the protected (students) folder takes precedence over the one in the root. Having said that, when I have the errordocument .htaccess file in the root and the password protect .htaccess file in the students folder, it behaves exactly as it does when I try to put the 401.html file in the students folder - it just continually asks for authentication while failing to render the error page in the background.

Have a look: www.bcnh.co.uk/students

Cheers

james

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:36 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Can you paste the exact contents of the .htaccess file from the root directory?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:45 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Here's the code in the root:

ErrorDocument 401 /401.html
ErrorDocument 403 /401.html
ErrorDocument 404 /401.html
ErrorDocument 500 /401.html

and the code in the students folder:

AuthUserFile /home/myid/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Students"
AuthType Basic

<Limit GET POST PUT>
require valid-user
</Limit>

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:44 pm (17 years, 11 months ago)

That's very strange. I can't see any reason why it should be acting like it is. Unless I'm missing something obvious, all I can think of is that it could be some kind of mis-configuration somewhere in httpd.conf.

Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 11:21 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Is this a job for the host admin people?

Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 11:24 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

More than likely it is. They're in a much better position to figure out what's going on Smile

Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 11:35 am (17 years, 11 months ago)

Oh dear. 'We'll have to charge for that'. I'll send them a polite enquiry and let you know what they say.

Cheers

James