problem protecting a directory using .htaccess

Question

I have created a .htaccess and .htpasswd files, and stored them in the folder I want to protect and when I navigated to that folder, I was asked for the username and passowrd (stored in the .htpasswd file) after entering the username and password, I got a 500 Internal server error. I have used the files on both localhost (windows) and on a web server (linux I guess) both gave the same result mentioned.

this is my .htaccess file:

<Files ~ "^\.(htaccess|htpasswd)$">
deny from all
</Files>
AuthUserFile /.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Please enter your ID and password"
AuthType Basic
require valid-user 
order deny,allow

Answer 1

I doubt that your .htpasswd file is really located at the very root of the server's filesystem along with /bin, /usr, /home, and others (rather than inside the part of the filesystem served to web browsers).

According to Apache documentation (1, 2), AuthUserFile expects a file path (as if you were in ServerRoot, usually /usr/apache or similar, and trying to locate the file from the Unix shell). It cannot be a URL, either absolute or relative. Correct your .htpasswd file path accordingly.

Note that if possible, you shouldn't put the .htpasswd file inside a public_html or htdocs folder, because any configuration error could not only allow unauthorized access to the files you want to protect but also the authorized usernames and hashed passwords.

Answer 2

Use an absolute hosting path, eg:

/home/content/14/5267714/html/.htpasswd