Locking Up A Secret Directory

There may be times when you need to block access to a document directory. (A document directory is one that Internet browsers and spiders/robots generally have access to.)

Password protecting the directory would accomplish it.

If you do not yourself need to access the directory with a browser, the same protection, but password-less, may be better. No password can be guessed because no password has been assigned.

For the protection, put an .htaccess file into the directory containing these 6 lines:

AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthName "Go Away"
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET>
require locked
</Limit>

With that .htaccess file in the directory, no other file in the directory is available to Internet browser or spider or any other software using the HTTP or HTTPS protocols.

They can't get in. The password can't be guessed. Yet, your FTP and file management software has access to the files in the directory.

If your server is not Apache, you may not be able to use .htaccess files to protect directories. Most Unix/Linux operating system servers, however, are Apache.

Will Bontrager