How to Password Protect your Website using .htaccess

Apache authentication can be configured to require site users to login with a user id and secret key. Secret key securing a directory on your site is very simple. Website admins normally need to secure a directory in the event that they have data that they need to make accessible just to a chose number of people.

See Also:

Apache configuration files:

RedHat / Fedora / CentOS: "/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf"
SuSE: "/etc/apache2/httpd.conf"
Ubuntu / Debian: "/etc/apache2/apache2.conf"

Follow below steps to protect your website with a Password Using .htaccess:

Step #1: Create a .htaccess file

First access the directory you want to protect with password. Create .htaccess file and add below entries:

# cd /home/techoism/public_html/Admin/
# vim .htaccess

AuthName "Private"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /home/techoism/public_html/.htpasswd
require valid-user

Note:

Step #2: Create the Password File

If you don’t current have an .htpasswd, use the “-c” option to create the file with the first user. It will prompt you for a password and encrypt it for you.

# htpasswd -c /home/techoism/public_html/Admin/.htpasswd dennis

If you already have the .htpasswd file and would like to append a new user run the following command:

# htpasswd -m /home/techoism/public_html/Admin/.htpasswd steve

Step #3: Verify the Configuration

Now you can verify the configuration on your browser by running below domain:

http://127.0.0.1:8000
Or
http://Server-IP

Enjoy it!