Installation / Webserver / Apache Configuration

Note: You are currently reading the documentation for Bolt 3.7. Looking for the documentation for Bolt 5.2 instead?

Bolt requires the use of a .htaccess file to make sure requests like page /about-this- website get routed to index.php, so it can be handled by Bolt. By default, the file looks like this:

# Set the default handler.
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm

# Prevent directory listing
Options -Indexes

<FilesMatch "\.(yml|db|twig|md)$">
    <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
        Require all denied
    </IfModule>
    <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
        Order deny,allow
        Deny from all
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine on

  RewriteRule cache/ - [F]

  # Some servers require the RewriteBase to be set. If so, set to the correct directory.
  # RewriteBase /

  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
  RewriteRule ^ ./index.php [L]
</IfModule>

In some cases it won't work without the RewriteBase line, and in some cases it won't work with it, depending on how your Apache is configured and the location on your site on the server.

Anyway, if your site does not work, try uncommenting the RewriteBase line and set it to the correct folder. For instance, if your Bolt site is located at example.org/test/, set it to RewriteBase /test/.

Alternatively, if your server is running Apache 2.2.16 or higher, you might be able to replace the entire mod_rewrite block from lines 22-35 with this single line:

FallbackResource /index.php

If you have misplaced your .htaccess file, you can get a new one here, from our files distribution page. Be sure to rename it to .htaccess, though.