It's got something to do with if your host can handle pretty URLs - even on non-windoze machines. I don't know all the magic involved in making it happen because it happens for me without issue, but I think if you rename sample.htaccess to .htaccess you have a shot at it working. Unless of course you already have a .htaccess file. In that case either rename yours to save it or figure out how to merge the two into one.

# CLEAN URLS:
# If you're using Apache 2, you may wish to try this if clean URLs don't work:
# AcceptPathInfo	On

Seems like the important bit from that file?

EdB wrote:

It's got something to do with if your host can handle pretty URLs - even on non-windoze machines. I don't know all the magic involved in making it happen because it happens for me without issue, but I think if you rename sample.htaccess to .htaccess you have a shot at it working. Unless of course you already have a .htaccess file. In that case either rename yours to save it or figure out how to merge the two into one.

# CLEAN URLS:
# If you're using Apache 2, you may wish to try this if clean URLs don't work:
# AcceptPathInfo	On

Seems like the important bit from that file?

EdB, thanks for taking the time. I renamed the htaccess and it's now not even appearing in the folder on the server. I do not see an option for pretty url's but will inquire with the host.

Do you know of the pro's in using exact path vs param? If it's not a big deal, I may just change it to param.

Some tools hide some files, .htaccess being one of them. One of the files that gets hidden is what I mean. So depending on what you're using to see the files there might be a way to have it show again. Oh and if you didn't remove the # from the line that said "# AcceptPathInfo On" it won't do you any good. # means "ignore me because I'm a comment".

Pros and cons? Dunno. Pretty URLs look nicer is about all, though some might argue that search engines like them better. That's probably old thinking though as search engines tend to keep up with the times, and basically making pretty URLs is fairly common. So why would they 'rank' pretty higher than ugly anymore?

I have an installation where I use pretty URLs without the year month day bits so a human can have an easier time recalling a URL ... though I doubt many people actually type a full URL into an address bar ;)

ANYWAY yeah you're gonna have to find a way to see that file, then edit it to uncomment the important line. I use FileZilla for FTPing and don't recall ever having to tell it "show me the hidden files".

EdB wrote:

Some tools hide some files, .htaccess being one of them. One of the files that gets hidden is what I mean. So depending on what you're using to see the files there might be a way to have it show again. Oh and if you didn't remove the # from the line that said "# AcceptPathInfo On" it won't do you any good. # means "ignore me because I'm a comment".

Pros and cons? Dunno. Pretty URLs look nicer is about all, though some might argue that search engines like them better. That's probably old thinking though as search engines tend to keep up with the times, and basically making pretty URLs is fairly common. So why would they 'rank' pretty higher than ugly anymore?

I have an installation where I use pretty URLs without the year month day bits so a human can have an easier time recalling a URL ... though I doubt many people actually type a full URL into an address bar ;)

ANYWAY yeah you're gonna have to find a way to see that file, then edit it to uncomment the important line. I use FileZilla for FTPing and don't recall ever having to tell it "show me the hidden files".

EdB, thanks once again.

I got the htaccess to appear and I uncommented # AcceptPathInfo On and reuploaded the htaccess file. Problem still persists. I uploaded a phpinfo file and it seems the mod rewrite is not installed/enabled on the server. I suppose this is the reason. Here is my php info URL: http://logicalogic.com/php_info.php

I made a request with the host to turn it on or provide instructions on enabling it. I also tried by uncommentiong this in the .htaccess file:

# CATCH EVERYTHING INTO B2EVO:
# The following will allow you to have URL right off the site root,
# using index.php as a stub but not showing it.
# This will add support for URLs like:  http://example.com/2006/08/29/post-title
# Redirect anything that's not an existing directory or file to index.php
#
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^  index.php

My web host replied:

To work clean URL's properly, you need to change permission of .htaccess file to 777 and then let the Blogging software write the mod_rewrite rules to it.

Now I verified the htaccess file has 777 permissions applied. Do I need to reinstall b2evo?

b2evolution does NOT write your .htaccess file. Restore the permissions to whatever it was before and edit the file yourself. If your host has things set up such that you can not upload your own .htaccess file and expects you to change permissions so that everyone and their brother can modify it then run like hell to a new host.

What are you using for FTPing files? Have you gained the ability to see that file on your server yet?

I have the ability to see the file. I use ftprush and there was an option to show hidden files. The file is set to 777 automatically. I uncommented a few lines in the htaccess file and reuploaded it. What is actually doing the modeewrite? Is there another component that initiates that command? If pretty URL's are not important then I suppose I do not need them, I was hoping it'd be an easy fix.

Sorry, but all I know about .htaccess and server stuff and getting pretty URLs to work I already spilled here.

I guess you get to make a choice then eh? Like, if you like your host more than you want pretty URLs then all is well. If on the other hand you really want them to look nice, that's not something I can offer any more info on. Anyway like I said I personally don't think they do much more than look good, and I personally don't think it helps much ... other than the cosmetics of it.

Maybe someone really smart will come along with good advice?