Title: big problem using permalink structure Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # big problem using permalink structure * [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/) * I developed a website with wordpress, my pages are category pages, the urls are: [http://www.dns.com/?cat=6](http://www.dns.com/?cat=6) I want to change that for [http://www.dns.com/contacts](http://www.dns.com/contacts) for instance. * So I went in admin > Settings > Permalink I read this page: [http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks](http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks) * I tried these structures (in the “Custom Structure” field): /index.php/%category% or %category% When I enter on my website, the first click works (any link I choose), url displays like this: [http://www.dns.com/category/contacts](http://www.dns.com/category/contacts)( is “category” normal here) but next click goes to 404 error page ([http://www.uzabi.com/index.php/category/?cat=5](http://www.uzabi.com/index.php/category/?cat=5)) * Can anyone help me there? Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total) * [ronchicago](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ronchicago/) * (@ronchicago) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966658) * if you don’t want “category” in your “pretty” links then try this structure = * /%year%/%postname%/%post_id%/ ( domain.com/2009/post-slug/1843 for example ) * did you copy the new .htaccess code that appeared and paste in htaccess ? * note: your mod_rewrite on your server needs to be ” on “ * should work… * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966660) * Hi ronchicago, thanks for the feed back. I do not know where to start with this. htaccess, my security plugin tells me there is no .htaccess in the wp-admin/. As a start, can you tell me how many .htaccess should be on my wordpress website, on which folders (I am using 2.6 with default template)? + Sorry but I do not get what is this new .htaccess code that should appear.. Thanks a lot. * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966816) * See: [Using “Pretty” permalinks](http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks#Using_.22Pretty.22_permalinks) * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966864) * Hi iridax, I have read this but I do not see the .htaccess file appear : ‘if this file is missing, WordPress will try to create it when you activate “pretty” permalinks’ Where should it appear? Thank you * [keep_it_simple](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keep_it_simple/) * (@keep_it_simple) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966870) * hey tomas, * having exactly the same problems on a clean install of version 2.7 (new database, new domain) uploaded the files, ran the install, set everything up so its there…. now what shall i do with it? hmmm first off i want permalinks. * 20 minutes uploading and installing the whole package, over 2 hours trying to find a solution to get a built in feature to work! * links show as required when i hovver over them, click on links to post get a page error. have read numerous forums before coming here (as the install instructions refer to this place, but the link is a dead link!) lots of them suggest various bits of .htaccess code changes, not a single one works and the htaccess file cannot be found on my webspace. * have uploaded htaccess as instructed, wordpress still doesnt recognise it. * why have the feature included in the package if A, it doesnt work without modifications to code and files B, you have to install other mods to have a chance of getting it to work C, nobody seems to know how to get it to work? * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966878) * From the linked page: * > Where’s my .htaccess file? > WordPress’s index.php and .htaccess files should be together in the directory > indicated by the Blog address (URI) setting on your General Options page. Since > the name of the file begins with a dot, the file may not be visible through > an FTP client unless you change the preferences of the FTP tool to show all > files, including the hidden files. Some hosts (e.g. Godaddy) may not show or > allow you to edit .htaccess if you install WordPress through the Godaddy Hosting > Connection installation. > Creating and editing (.htaccess) > If you do not already have a .htaccess file, create one. If you have shell > or ssh access to the server, a simple touch .htaccess command will create the > file. If you are using FTP to transfer files, create a file on your local computer, > call it 1.htaccess, upload it to the root of your WordPress folder, and then > rename it to .htaccess. > You can edit the .htaccess file by FTP, shell, or (possibly) your host’s control > panel. > If your .htaccess file contains errors that bring down your site (“Internal > Server Error (500)”), you will need to use FTP or your host’s control panel > to delete the rogue .htaccess file. * [keep_it_simple](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keep_it_simple/) * (@keep_it_simple) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966883) * “.. WordPress’s index.php and .htaccess files should be together in the directory indicated by the Blog address” – yes they are both there in the same directory * “Since the name of the file begins with a dot, the file may not be visible through an FTP client” – uploaded it as “.htaccess” its showing via ftp program – then deleted it again, renamed to 1.htaccess on my computer, reuploaded it and then changed the name to .htaccess, refreshed and posted to website again to test, still no joy * “You can edit the .htaccess file by FTP, shell, or (possibly) your host’s control panel.” – done this for almost 3 hours now… still get “page cannot be found error” for permanent link to post, catagorized in, coments and the side menu catagories * when i go back to default links for posts, it works fine * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966934) * Thanks for feed back iridiax. I have already read that too 🙂 But security plugin says : “The file .htaccess does not exist in wp-admin/”, that is why I do not get it : * 1) do I also need to add a .htaccess in the root folder ? (website address) * 2) can I add empty files? will they be automatically written? * One more info : I have one local version of my website on my computer (using xampp) + another version hosted with godaddy. * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966936) * Sorry, I mixed everything a little. I had another issue with .htaccess using the security plugin, this file was missing in the wp-admin folder. I managed to create a blank notepad document, added it in the wp-admin folder and was able to change database prefix, that was my other problem. * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966937) * Concerning the permalink issue, I still don’t get it, sorry… * I understood I need to have a .htaccess on the root : I have one (once again, I am using wordpress for a website which is hosted locally with xampp, I am working with dreamwaver). Here is the content of this file : * ‘ # BEGIN WordPress RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /wordpress/ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule./ wordpress/index.php [L] * # END WordPress’ * I am trying to change the permalinks structure for something like : /%year%/% postname%/%post_id%/ or /%category% * but that results with error pages on my website : [http://localhost/wordpress/category/portfolio/](http://localhost/wordpress/category/portfolio/) * I do not understand what is wrong, “category” should not be there I guess. That is a bit frustrating… * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966938) * to be clear one more time, as said in my first post, my website pages are category pages, * my urls are like: [http://www.dns.com/?cat=6](http://www.dns.com/?cat=6). * I need to replace those type of links with something like: [http://www.dns.com/category_name1](http://www.dns.com/category_name1) * Thanks for helping * Thread Starter [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * (@tomasi514) * [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966939) * my website is local & mod_rewrite is enabled on my apache : `http://roshanbh. com.np/2008/04/check-enable-mod_rewrite-apache.html` Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total) The topic ‘big problem using permalink structure’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [category](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/category/) * [category name](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/category-name/) * [permalink](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/permalink/) * [Permalink structure](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/permalink-structure/) * [pretty permalinks](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/pretty-permalinks/) * [url](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/url/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 12 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [tomasi514](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomasi514/) * Last activity: [17 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/big-problem-using-permalink-structure/#post-966939) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics