How to use RewriteRule within .htaccess on xampplite?

Question

I am using .htaccess file to enable url rewrite.

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
DirectorySlash off 
Options -Indexes
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index\.php [NC]

It works as it should on the production php server.

It does not however work with out of the box xampplite.

How do I fix it? How do i debug it?

Answer 1

Does anything in .htaccess file apply actually? You need to enable processing of this file, see AllowOverride directive.