Protect Multiple Directory Using .htaccess & .htpasswd

Let’s say you need to protect few directories (/def, /ghi, /mno) from following tree. Then please follow the further mention steps

• /var/www/html
  • /abc
  • /def
  • /ghi
  • /jkl
  • /mno

1. Create the .htpasswd file in /var/www directory from below command

   root@amitanvir:~# cd /var/www/
   root@amitanvir:/var/www# htpasswd -c .htpasswd username1

   The console will prompt to enter (and re-enter) a password for username1.

2. Set permission for the .htpasswd file

   root@amitanvir:/var/www# chmod 644 .htpasswd

3. Create a file called .htaccess within the directory (/var/www/html/def) you want to password protect.

   root@amitanvir:/var/www/html/def# nano .htaccess

4. Paste the following in .htaccess file

   AuthUserFile /var/www/.htpasswd
   	    AuthGroupFile /dev/null
   	    AuthName "Secure Directory"
   	    AuthType Basic
   	    require user username1
   	    require user username2

5. Save it & restart Apache Service. The folder is now password protected when we access it via web browser.
6. Copy this .htaccess file in other directories & restart the Apache service.

Note:

• The -c option in htpasswd -c .htpasswd username1 will create a new file and save the encrypted password. If the file already exists then it’ll be cleared completely, and re-created with the last username and encrypted password
• Please use the below command if you are facing Internal Server Error with log entry containing Invalid command ‘AuthGroupFile’, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration

  a2enmod authz_groupfile