Redirect non www to www including https

Question

I'm having trouble redirecting:

https://example.com to https://www.example.com.

I've currently got this and its not achieving the result I need and I'm not sure why:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

I basically want to redirect everything to https://www.example.com

I appreciate any help.

Answer 1

Based on your comment you're trying to redirect in order to avoid a mis-matched URL SSL warning in the browser window. This cannot be done, as the redirect happens after the SSL handshake (because it uses a Location: response header to a request that won't be sent until the SSL handshake occurs and is accepted by the user).

Your best approach is:

• Split example.com into a separate VirtualHost and use mod_alias as @HampusLi suggested
• Purchase another certificate for example.com and apply it to this VirtualHost

Alternatively, you could get a SAN (Subject Alternate Name) certificate that works for both example.com and www.example.com.

Answer 2

You dont need mod_rewrite for this, you can use the much more lightweight built in module mod_alias with this simple syntax under the http vhost:

Redirect permanent / https://example.com/