#pragma keywords htaccess, htpasswd, apache, http auth, password, password protect
= Howto: Password Protection =

This howto will briefly explain how to set up a directory on your webpage that requires username/password authentication for access.

First, create a new directory in your public_html where you will put the files which you want to protect:

{{{
cd ~/public_html
mkdir secret
}}}

Create a file named `.htaccess` in the new directory with the following content (edit with: `nano -w secret/.htaccess` for example):

{{{
AuthUserFile /var/www/users/myusername/secret/.htpasswd
AuthName "Secret directory"
AuthType Basic
Require valid-user
}}}

Remember to replace `myusername` in the pathname with your username.

The last step is to create the file that will store your usernames and passwords:

{{{
/usr/sbin/htpasswd -c secret/.htpasswd username
}}}

The last parameter here (`username`) is the name of the user for which you want to create a new password. If you want to add more users remove `-c` (create new) from the argument list and issue the command again.
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CategoryHowto