Fixing the 404 Page Not Found Error – when you’ve tried all the easy things.
I’ve run into this problem now and again – usually when I move a site from one server to a different server. I think it may have something to do with the order of the steps used in doing the move or maybe the way that I’ve moved it. I get the home page up and when I click into any of the internal pages I get a 404 page not found error.
So I do a search and find a bunch of recommendations to go into WordPress and turn the permalinks setting off, then on – that will rebuild the .htaccess file. But that doesn’t work much of the time. A deeper search brings up the idea of changing the settings in the httpd.conf file in the /etc/apache2/ folder (I’m using Ubuntu 18.04 as my server, it may be located in other places on different servers).
Then I’ll find the suggestion to change the settings in the whatmyurl.com.conf file in the sites-available folder – /etc/apache2/sites-available – but that doesn’t work.
THEN I remember that I have installed an SSL on the site – you have to change the SSL conf file also- DUH! So go to whatsmyurl.com-le-ssl.conf and do the same changes you did to the non SSL conf file and restart apache – and then it works.
Here’s the changes I put in the conf files – look for this section:
<Directory “/path/to/your/domain/space/where/your/site/is”>
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
</Directory>
For example my path is “/var/www/leonzak.com” – that’s the standard setup after installing apache2.
And change it to:
<Directory “/path/to/your/domain/space/where/your/site/is”>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride ALL
Require all granted
</Directory>
The indentation is not needed but makes it easier to read. Don’t forget to restart apache after any changes – “sudo service apache2 restart” should do it.
And then make sure you’ve turned the Permalinks back on in your WordPress site.
Good luck…
Fixing the 404 Page Not Found Error – when you’ve tried all the easy things.
I’ve run into this problem now and again – usually when I move a site from one server to a different server. I think it may have something to do with the order of the steps used in doing the move or maybe the way that I’ve moved it. I get the home page up and when I click into any of the internal pages I get a 404 page not found error.
So I do a search and find a bunch of recommendations to go into WordPress and turn the permalinks setting off, then on – that will rebuild the .htaccess file. But that doesn’t work much of the time. A deeper search brings up the idea of changing the settings in the httpd.conf file in the /etc/apache2/ folder (I’m using Ubuntu 18.04 as my server, it may be located in other places on different servers).
Then I’ll find the suggestion to change the settings in the whatmyurl.com.conf file in the sites-available folder – /etc/apache2/sites-available – but that doesn’t work.
THEN I remember that I have installed an SSL on the site – you have to change the SSL conf file also- DUH! So go to whatsmyurl.com-le-ssl.conf and do the same changes you did to the non SSL conf file and restart apache – and then it works.
Here’s the changes I put in the conf files – look for this section:
<Directory “/path/to/your/domain/space/where/your/site/is”>
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
</Directory>
For example my path is “/var/www/leonzak.com” – that’s the standard setup after installing apache2.
And change it to:
<Directory “/path/to/your/domain/space/where/your/site/is”>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride ALL
Require all granted
</Directory>
The indentation is not needed but makes it easier to read. Don’t forget to restart apache after any changes – “sudo service apache2 restart” should do it.
And then make sure you’ve turned the Permalinks back on in your WordPress site.
Good luck…