Re: Head scratcher - child htaccess issue; check AllowOverride

On Tue, 3 March 2026, Bball Scout wrote:

> I can't for the life of me figure out how to force apache
> to allow a child .htaccess

Check *root* `.htaccess` to see if there was any non-comment line
which said `AllowOverride`. If there was any [0], pay attention to the word
that _follows_ it in the same line: any word [1] other than `All`
can cause you this problem-- especially when that word was `None`
(which if it was the case, definitely being the root cause of your problem).

^ `AllowOverride None` is a setting which explicitly instructs
  the server to *ignore* `.htaccess` in any subdirectory below that level. [2]

However if you found this `AllowOverride` directive, but the value
that followed it was neither `All` nor `None`; then you will have to
copy that entire line [3] over here in your reply, so I could see
which exact things are allowed or disallowed exactly.
(This directive allows quite a lot of fine-tuning,
and it'd be unwise to answer by guessing in the dark)

But in case there wasn't any line in root `.htaccess` saying `AllowOverride`;
then I think you can't avoid attaching your root `.htaccess` file now [2]
if you would like further help on this.

Regards,
Nutchanon Wetchasit
(Just another webmaster using Apache HTTPd)


[0] If you found multiple lines, do tell what these lines are (in full).
[1] Case-insensitive.
[2] RTFM: <https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#allowoverride>
[3] Or better, attach the entire root `.htaccess` file, with sensitive stuffs
    censored with something like ********.