Can’t Make New Static Pages

Well, I tried a blank file like you suggested, made sure it was CHMODed to 666 and had a go. Still with the 404.

Thanks anyway, though.

Did WP write the new rules in the file, or were the rules displayed below the permalinks settings on the page?

They were displayed below the permalinks settings.

Then you .htaccess file wasn’t written. Take the rules from there and copy/paste them into a simple text file. Upload it and name it .htaccess.

Done, still no go.

Thanks for trying to help Moshu, I really do appreciate it. I’m beginning to think I’m just SOL on this. I suppose I could try setting up another install of WP just to see if a clean, untweaked-by-me-version will let me create new pages. Yeesh, I really don’t want to do that…

Is there any additional code that needs to go into the .htaccess file to enable you to create static pages?

Every time I create a new Page, WP tells me it’s been created, but when I click “view page” I go straight to a 404 page – I understand that I need to update the htaccess but I don’t know what goes in it. That’s where I’m stuck. This version of WP has never done my htaccess files for me.

Yeah, I think there must be, but I’ve looked around and can’t find it. I’m truly puzzled/annoyed as to why this is happening. I just wish someone in the know would let us know for sure if there is something we should be adding ourselves into the htaccess file. Sure, the permalinks page tells us what to put in there, but isn’t that just for taking care of the permalinks and not for the creation of new pages?

I’ve read a few threads on this. Do I understand correctly that, to create new pages, the best bet is to 1) make htaccess writeable, 2) add the pages, and then 3) make htaccess unwriteable again for security reasons?

If you are using “nice permalinks”, i.e. mysite.com/mypage instead of mysite.com/?page_id=34 WP needs to re_write the rules in your .htaccess file whenever you create a new Page. The Page’s slug (“mypage” above) has to be written in the .htaccess.
So, speechpoet, yes, you understood correctly.
If you don’t use the nice permalinks, you don’t have to do anything.

Moshu, for some reason, WP 1.5.1.1 won’t do my .htaccess files so I need to do it myself, which is a bit of a problem as I don’t know how!

I use the “nice permalinks” (and have no desire to lose them), so when you say “The Page’s slug (“mypage” above) has to be written in the .htaccess”, what do you mean? What do I write? Can someone who can make Pages copy and paste it here please? I am well and truly stuck!

Thanks, Jo

I installed a fresh installation of the latest WP & tried to make .htacces writable & can’t get this to work either…

Our server generally runs everything & we have access all the way to the root. Usually anything with a .htaccess file runs fine..

Gotcha. Thanks, Moshu!

@josalmon,
when you say “The Page’s slug (“mypage” above) has to be written in the .htaccess”, what do you mean? What do I write?…
I meant WP has to write the “rules” into the .htaccess, so when I click on a link mysite.com/mypage it won’t display a big 404, because – based on the rules written in the .htaccess – WP and the server will know exactly that in fact they have to show me the Page with the id# 34 (in the example above).

Actually YOU – as the owner of the blog – don’t write anything. And to be honest till now I’ve never took a look at my .htaccess file. Simply I didn’t need it. If I want to write a Page I just chmod the .htaccess file 666 and then Create New Page. Done.
On this test I also run 1.5.1.1.. A few minutes ago I’ve created a new Page, called “Newest Page”: https://www.transycan.net/blogtest/ – check out in the sidebar’s list.
A note. When a .htaccess file is screwed up several times by N number of trials, I always say: delete it, reset/update your permalinks options to empty fields, then upload a new empty .htaccess file and start a new life with it ??

I get your point that WP is meant to write my.htaccess file for me but that fact is that it never has.

When I did my permalinks I had to do it myself using the code provided by WP.

So based on that experience, I was assuming that if WP didn’t write your htaccess for you, then there was a code you could put in it yourself.

I’ve tried chmoding .htaccess to 66

I’ve tried deleting it and starting over.

I’ve been trying that for days – hence my first post on this topic asking how to do it myself.

When you update your permalinks if WP cannot write your .htaccess file, it will show the code below. Select all > Copy > make a htacces file > Paste > upload.