Title: Error:Challenge request failed for domain
Last modified: September 13, 2016

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# Error:Challenge request failed for domain

 *  [marykelouw](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marykelouw/)
 * (@marykelouw)
 * [9 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/)
 * I have installed the Let’s Encrypt plugin via WordPress. I have a multisite. 
   I have registered my account but it gives me the following error when I request
   it to generate a certificate: Challenge request failed for domain sports-injury-
   physio.com.
    I am also running All in One WP Security plugin – could this be 
   the problem? Many thanks Maryke

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Felix Arntz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flixos90/)
 * (@flixos90)
 * [9 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8189391)
 * The reason for this is probably that your server setup prevents access to directories
   prefixed with a dot. Please make sure that the URL `www.yourdomain.com/.well-
   known` and its subdirectories can be accessed, in order for the plugin to work.
 *  Thread Starter [marykelouw](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marykelouw/)
 * (@marykelouw)
 * [9 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8190022)
 * Thank you Felix, I’ll have a look.
 *  [netmardev](https://wordpress.org/support/users/netmardev/)
 * (@netmardev)
 * [9 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8381019)
 * Hi Felix,
 * I’m having a similar problem in getting “Challenge request failed for domain 
   filemakercoder.com ”
    The strange part is that I installed three other domains
   and all went well. This last one gave me the error, though. Same ISP, same sequence
   of events in the installation. I uninstalled the entire site and re-installed
   including dns settings only to arrive at the same result. [http://filemakercoder.com/.well-known/](http://filemakercoder.com/.well-known/)
   is reachable and has the same write access settings as the other successful installs.
   htaccess file is also the same. Any ideas?
 *  [JAS0N](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jas0n/)
 * (@jas0n)
 * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8427457)
 * I’m having the same issue. I re-created .htaccess to be default WordPress format
   and still have the issue. The directory /.well-known/ is 0755. Not sure where
   else too look for this setting.
 *  [JAS0N](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jas0n/)
 * (@jas0n)
 * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8427501)
 * I figured out my issue, hope it helps someone. My site was redirecting (via two
   different methods) all traffic through https. I was getting certificate errors
   via https (still need to figure out what that’s about) so I think that’s what
   was preventing the challenge request from working correctly. After I disabled
   the https re-directing, it worked.
 *  [Chekki](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chekki/)
 * (@chekki)
 * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8432376)
 * [@jas0n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jas0n/)
 * Could you be more precise please? Because I have the same problem and my rankings
   are now struggling
 * This are my entries for all my redirects:
 * **.htaccess:**
 * RewriteEngine On
 *     ```
       RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !=443
       RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://gassihelden.de/$1 [R=301,L]
       ```
   
 * **wp-config.php**
 * `define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', 'https://gassihelden.de/wp-content' );`
 * My WordPress url settings:
    [https://gassihelden.de](https://gassihelden.de) 
   [https://gassihelden.de](https://gassihelden.de)
 * And I have set SSL in my Plesk panel for this domain.
 * I have no idea why I get the challenge request and which redirect I should remove.
   
   Any idea?
    -  This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by [Chekki](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chekki/).
 *  [Matthias Baier](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ma_wordpressorg/)
 * (@ma_wordpressorg)
 * [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8534527)
 * Hey Chekki,
 * you could try to set your domain to [http://gassihelden.de](http://gassihelden.de)
   within your WordPress URL-settings. Then try to generate a new certificate. For
   me it worked like this.
    After the process, I just put https back in place at
   the settings. I can’t tell why this is happening. My provider doesn’t give a 
   lot information in the logs and the wp-encrypt-error message was somewhat not
   helpful.
 * Editing the .htaccess-file or even changing the PHP-Version from 7.0 back to 
   5.6 didn’t help.
    -  This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by [Matthias Baier](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ma_wordpressorg/).
 *  [wesleyjw](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wesleyjw/)
 * (@wesleyjw)
 * [9 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8549372)
 * Hi [@ma_wordpressorg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ma_wordpressorg/)
 * Your suggestion worked. Thank you!
 *  [smocko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/smocko/)
 * (@smocko)
 * [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8776987)
 * Can you explain a little more on this?
 *  [Matthias Baier](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ma_wordpressorg/)
 * (@ma_wordpressorg)
 * [9 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8777899)
 * What do you mean by “explain more”?
    Can you give us a litte bit more information,
   on what part you like to hear more?
 *  [Knut Sparhell](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knutsp/)
 * (@knutsp)
 * [9 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-8958377)
 * It will try to generate certificates not only for active domain in your multisite,
   but also for the www subdomain and for domains taken from “deleted” subsites.
 * So check **all** your domains in the installation, and for those who are not 
   a subdomain, like example.comm, include [http://www.example.com](http://www.example.com).
 * Ensure that **all** of these have a DNS A record pointing to your server and 
   that this domain is served. Test that [https://<your-domain.tld>/.well-known](https://<your-domain.tld>/.well-known)
   is not 404, for **all of them**.
 *  Anonymous User 15031955
 * (@anonymized-15031955)
 * [8 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-9318333)
 * I disabled the redirection from http to https and the certificate auto renewed
   for another 3 months.
    The redirection still happens though, without re-enabling
   it.
 * _[https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/components/apache/#how-to-force-https-for-all-applications](https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/components/apache/#how-to-force-https-for-all-applications)_
 * **disable redirection:**
 *     ```
       cd /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/
       vi bitnami.conf
       ```
   
 * **Change** `RewriteEngine On`
    to Off
 * **Save:** `:wq!`
 * **reload apache**
    `sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache`

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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## Tags

 * [HTTPS](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/https/)

 * 12 replies
 * 10 participants
 * Last reply from: Anonymous User 15031955
 * Last activity: [8 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/errorchallenge-request-failed-for-domain/#post-9318333)
 * Status: not resolved