How to password-protect web pages with .htpasswd

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Method

ATTENTION: Any input in brackets ([username], [dev.example.com], and so on) represents a placeholder. Replace the brackets and everything between them with the indicated information.

Log in using FTP and download your .htaccess file from the folder you wish to protect; for example:
/home/username/dev.example.com/html/.htaccess. If this file is not here, you may need to create it.

At the top of the .htaccess file, insert the following:

ATTENTION: The AuthUserFile path should be the target location for storing your username and password. We recommend doing this in a location outside of the html folder.

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Protection"
AuthUserFile /chroot/home/[username]/[dev.example.com]/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

If you wish to block a specific page, you would use <FilesMatch>to limit this to a single page, like so:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Protection"
AuthBasicProvider file
AuthUserFile /chroot/home/[username]/[dev.example.com]/.htpasswd
<FilesMatch “[secret.php]”>
Require valid-user
</FilesMatch>

cd /chroot/home/[username]/[dev.example.com]/

To generate a new .htpasswd file with one user, issue:

htpasswd -nb [username] [password] > .htpasswd

After this, you can use htpasswd -nbcommand to generate new username and password combinations to add to the .htpasswd file. For example:

htpasswd -nb [username2] [password2]

The output will resemble the following; copy it to your clipboard:

[username2]:$apr1$AvsmeS7S$Y.K4zIO6Abgw7zd.Hnq.W/

Using FTP, add the new user as a new line to the existing .htpasswd file. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 for every user as necessary. For example:

[username]:$apr1$MqnlWasH$zEF0/tORcU2GuRNFMhACj0
[username2]:$apr1$AvsmeS7S$Y.K4zIO6Abgw7zd.Hnq.W/

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