How to throw a 404 error from htaccess

.htaccesshttp-status-code-404

Everything I find seems to be about created a custom 404 page.

That is not what I am trying to do.

If I want to block access to a page I can do this in htaccess:

RewriteRule pattern – [F]

However, "Forbidden" hints that the page does exists. I want the page to appear to not even exist. So I would like to give a 404 error instead of a 403. Then have it render whatever 404 page would render if the resource really wasn't there.

How can I do that?

Best Answer

The documentation and AskApache suggest that you can simply use Redirect 404.

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WordPress – .htaccess – how to tell wordpress to ignore a directory

The simplest answer (and more maintainable in the long run, without getting into more mod_rewrite or mod_alias black magic) is really to not name the directories the same as your seo-friendly-links. Use something like mywebpage_images, myproductpage_images, etc. for these directories.

Custom 403 Error page not showing

Is there a .htaccess file inside the includes/ folder? And does it have an ErrorDocument 403 directive?

If that one is overriding the parent one then that could cause the issue you describe.

Try putting the ErrorDocument directive in your httpd.conf or vhost file.

What do you see in your access and error logs for these requests ?

It's also worth triple checking that the 403 line definitely says ErrorDocument 403 /403.php and not ErrorDocument 403 403.php. That small typo would cause all of the symptoms you described.

Update after chat:

The final solution was to make the includes directory readable by the Apache user and add this to the .htaccess:

  <Location /includes>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
  </Location>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

WordPress – .htaccess – how to tell wordpress to ignore a directory

Custom 403 Error page not showing

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