Pretty permalinks (%postname%) block wp-admin(login)

I experienced this before with older versions and usually deleting .htaccess does the trick and so it this this time. After a couple of days the problem reoccurred and I deleted .htaccess again. Unfortunately after some time – a couple of hours later I double checked and it showed the same error.

When using the standard permalinks (superpersis.nl/?123) I’m able to log in using wp-admin. When using superpersis.nl/%postname% I cant log in.

Your topic isn’t a WordPress problem, it’s something wrong with your installation that does that. A stock WordPress installation will never do that unless there’s a problem with how your permalinks are setup.

When using the standard permalinks (superpersis.nl/?123) I’m able to log in using wp-admin. When using superpersis.nl/%postname% I cant log in.

Can you reproduce that and show us the link were that happens? It sounds like something is taking precedence over your .htaccess file. Seeing that would help sort out your problem.

Thank you for your reply Jan, I appreciate that!

Your reply made me reconsider my words after first being really annoyed that you said it didn’t happen with a clean install, which it did. I wanted to proof you wrong (read: proof me right) and installed WP 4.4 in a sub folder of one of my websites. After entering the DB information etc. the installation didn’t progress. So I checked with FileZilla to edit the config file. It was correct. I checked the original WP install and it was identical to the new install. It scared the sh*t out of me as I lost my website! So I restored a backup and all was well. That’s when it hit me: you were right! It’s not the regular install which shows this error, it’s an install in a sub folder.

There for I thank you for taking me/us a step closer to a solution. The problem still occurs though.

Why are pretty permalinks not working when WP is installed in a sub folder?

Why are pretty permalinks not working when WP is installed in a sub folder?

They do work, they always have. There’s something going on with your installation. ??

I’ll use a test installation at this URL running WordPress 4.4 and Twenty Sixteen as an example.

https://dixie.dembowski.net/wordpress/

Except for the Wapuuvatar plugin, I have no plugins activated. It’s a straight test installation with the theme unit test data.

The pretty permalinks and logging in via /wp-admin/ (redirects to the login page) or /wp-login.php work fine for me.

Here’s my .htaccess file that WordPress generated.

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /wordpress/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /wordpress/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

Except for modifying my server’s Apache2 config file with these lines

<Directory /var/www/html>
                Options -Indexes
                AllowOverride All
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

I’ve not made any other changes. The AllowOverride All lets mod_rewrite do its work.

What’s in your subdirectory .htaccess file? Is there one in the root directory? Does your Apache2 configuration have anything like above?

Hiya Jan,

Currently the .htaccess in the subfolder of jthosting.nl looks like this:

# Block the wp-config file.
<files wp-config.php>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</files>

# Block the include-only files.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^wp-admin/includes/ - [F,L]
RewriteRule !^wp-includes/ - [S=3]
RewriteRule ^wp-includes/[^/]+\.php$ - [F,L]
RewriteRule ^wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/.+\.php - [F,L]
RewriteRule ^wp-includes/theme-compat/ - [F,L]

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

And in the root like this:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

The root .htaccess file of Superpersis.nl currently looks like this because of the standard option for permalinks: /?p=123 or something like that.

# BEGIN WordPress

# END WordPress

The subfolder .htaccess looks like this:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /winkel/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /winkel/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

The Apache2 config file is on the same (shared) server and I could not find but I ask my registrar if ModRewrite is on and he confirmed this. Should I also ask him about the content of the config file?

The root .htaccess file of Superpersis.nl currently looks like this because of the standard option for permalinks: /?p=123 or something like that.

Let’s focus on this one just to limit the different testing and trial and error.

*Visits https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel/ and looks*

Okay, that’s different.

From https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel/ I clicked on this link -> https://www.superpersis.nl/?p=667 Normally it’s all within a sub-directory so https://www.superpersis.nl/?p=667 would be https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel/?p=667

Now I have some questions. ??

1. Where is WordPress installed on the file system? It looks like you may have in a subdirectory /winkel/ but the post redirects to the root.

2. Does /winkel/ exist as an actual subdirectory?

3. When I visited https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel/wp-admin/ I was greeted with an interesting login prompt. Where’s that coming from? If it is server based then there may be more going on here.

4. What do you have in your WordPress SiteURL and WordPress Address? I think it’s these two values

https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel
https://www.superpersis.nl

But I want to confirm the rest. I can reproduce the WordPress parts on my test site but the host part might be a problem for me.

That’s a fast one Jan!

To answer your questions one by one:
1. Where is WordPress installed on the file system? It looks like you may have in a subdirectory /winkel/ but the post redirects to the root.
1) it is in root/winkel.
2. Does /winkel/ exist as an actual subdirectory?
2) It actually exists as a subdirectory (created it myself).
3. When I visited https://www.superpersis.nl/winkel/wp-admin/ I was greeted with an interesting login prompt. Where's that coming from? If it is server based then there may be more going on here.
3) If you are referring to the WordPress attack protection; I was under the impression it came with WordPress? It is for sure server based. As WordPress was under attack quite often by hackers who used “Admin” and some random passwords to hack a site I could imagine that a registrar would like to rule out hacker software. It happened to me at my previous host btw, cost me quite some time…
4. What do you have in your WordPress SiteURL and WordPress Address? I think it's these two values
4) You are absolutely right about the two values.

So what does this tell us?

P.s. Winkel = Dutch for shop.