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I have a strange problem when adding a sub-domain to our virtual server. I have done similar sub-domains before and they have worked fine.

When I try to access the sub-domain I get an 403 Forbidden error.

I checked the error logs and have the following error:

pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

I've searched Google and could only find solutions regarding file and folder permissions, that I have checked and the solution isn't solved. I also saw problems with Frontpage Extensions, but that's not installed on the server.

Edit

Forgot to say that there isn't a .htaccess file in the directory of the sub-domain

Edit #2

Still not been able to find a solution on this. Only things I have been able to find out is:

  • It doesn't seem to be a problem with any .htaccess files (I've tried creating blank ones, with correct user privileges).
  • It doesn't seem to be a problem with any folder permissions as they are all set correct.
  • There isn't a problem with the way the sub-domain has been set up, as I've tried pointing the DocumentRoot to another folder and it worked fine. I've also done sub-domains fine before with no problem.

Edit #3

Find out more information. I don't think it can be a file permission problem now, because if I access it by going to the server ip and then the directory where the site is hosted it all works fine (minus the stylesheets & images, which is just down to how they are linked)

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7 Answers 7

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Are you using the Apache ITK MPM? Version 2.2.17 fixes a bug that can cause 403 errors (see the changelog).

I was experiencing the same problem when using the AssignUserId directive. It went away when I gave the files and folders world-readable/executable permissions.

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I experienced a similar problem : my "/var/www" folder was unaccessible by Apache. My webserver is running inside a VirtualBox host, and the www folder is shared between the guest (SLES11) and the host (Windows). The problem was that the www folder is a VirtualBox file system mounting point, and the linux Apache user (nobody) was not authorized to browse the mounting point.

To solve this, I added the nobody user into the VBOXFS group : 

$>usermod -G vboxsf nobody

I have to restart the guest for this modification to be reflected onto Apache, and now it works.

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  • That was exactly my problem and the solution worked like a charm. Thank you! Don't see why this was down voted.
    – chris---
    Jun 22, 2018 at 7:36
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What user did you edit the .htaccess file as? Can you list the permissions on this file? Its possibly because the user apache is running as can't read the file.

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  • There isn't an .htaccess file for that sub-domain. That's the confusing part!
    – Josh
    Feb 11, 2011 at 21:11
  • Hi Josh- reading online, found numberous solutions, such as here: techiecorner.com/172/…
    – AliGibbs
    Feb 12, 2011 at 0:06
  • Thanks for the suggestion, but FrontPage extensions isn't on the server.
    – Josh
    Feb 12, 2011 at 14:52
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You need to change the permissions on the folder referenced. The folder needs to be executable for the user that owns the apache process.

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  • I have already tried that, and it didn't change anything.
    – Josh
    Feb 11, 2011 at 21:11
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Try creating a blank htaccess file in that directory with the correct permissions as it may for some strange reason be expecting to read one but can't

The 403 error may be due to not allowing directory indexing for that directory

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  • Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't work unfortunately.
    – Josh
    Feb 12, 2011 at 14:48
  • did you also make sure it had permissions that the webserver could read? also try adding the line Options +Indexes to that .htaccess file to see if it fixes the 403
    – anthonysomerset
    Feb 25, 2011 at 9:39
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Try to log in as apache user (su - apache) and enshure this directory is readable by it.

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  • Is there anyway I can check that without logging in as the user apache?
    – Josh
    Feb 14, 2011 at 15:51
  • @Josh You can look at the directory's ownership and permissions, but suing to the user and testing directly is probably just as quick :)
    – voretaq7
    Jul 24, 2012 at 16:46
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Had the same problem:

webroot /var/www and all files within owned by www-data, all files readable, all directories executable. had tried to access directories mentioned in the error logged in as www-data (sudo -u www-data bash, then cd /var/www/<somedir>). All worked fine.

But still got the abovementioned error:

AH00529: /var/www/admin/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable and that '/var/www/admin/' is executable

Also, i found out, that no .htaccess file was present in this folder. Some threads i read mentioned creating empty htaccess files, so i tried (as root)

cd /var/www/admin
touch .htaccess
chown www-data .htaccess

Next time i visited my site, the error occured again, but at another directory. So double check, that adding an htacces file leads to the same error in the SAME DIRECTORY. If not, the following may help:

cd /var/www
for DIR in $(find . -type d); do
    touch $DIR/.htaccess
    chown www-data $DIR/.htaccess
done

That worked for me. So i guess, the apache versions we use look for an htaccess file in every dir they encounter, when AllowOverride ALL is set. And then they fail, when no htaccess is present, insted of going on.

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