Permalinks stuck on default settings

Resolved

(@karenbatten)

Hi There,
thanks in advance for your help.
I have read many posted but unfortunately I don’t really follow. I have tried some things but nothing seems to be working.

I have created a new .htaccess file.
Originally it had this code in it

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

From the forums I added this code

# BEGIN WordPress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

When I went back to the .htaccess file this code had disappeared and only the below was there.

# BEGIN WordPress
# END WordPress

I am making all these changed under the cpanel x

Under wordpress I have been going to settings > permalink and when I select the custom setting it just returns to the default and says the permalink structure updated, but it hasn’t.

Thanks Karen

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)

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Moderator t-p
(@t-p)

12 years, 5 months ago

Does the default setting work?
If it does, then try reviewing Using_Permalinks before setting a custom permalink structure again.

Thread Starter kb1234
(@karenbatten)

12 years, 5 months ago

Yes default setting does work.
I have read Using_Permalinks but I don’t understand all the instructions.
I’m thinking it has something to do with this maybe?

Pretty permalinks are available under:
Apache web server with the mod_rewrite module
Microsoft IIS 7+ web server with the URL Rewrite 1.1+ module and PHP 5 running as FastCGI
Microsoft IIS 6+ using ASAPI_Rewrite
Lighttpd using a 404 handler or mod_rewrite (see See Also)

But I don’t know how to find out which one applies to me.
I can’t seem to find the httpd.config file and don’t know if I have one…
Sorry I just don’t understand the instructions.

Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago

Your environment must be “Apache web server with the mod_rewrite module”

First clear whatever you did to the .htaccess file. It should be complete empty.

Then instead of a custom structure choose a “Common Setting” such as “Post name” or “Day and name” and see if it works.

Thread Starter kb1234
(@karenbatten)

12 years, 5 months ago

Thanks for you suggestion.
I have emptied the .htaccess file to be completely empty.
When I test changing the permilinks to other settings everyone produces the below error.

Not Acceptable
An appropriate representation of the requested resource /wp-admin/options-permalink.php could not be found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Moderator t-p
(@t-p)

12 years, 5 months ago

/wp-admin/options-permalink.php could not be found on this server.

check and see if this file is there
Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago
@tara the file does exist, it is returning a 406 Not Acceptable Error.

@karenbatten I think your host uses mod_security which is causing the issue. Edit your .htaccess file and place the following in it
```
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>
```
This will disable mod_security for your WordPress installation. Then try choosing a permalink structure.
Thread Starter kb1234
(@karenbatten)

12 years, 5 months ago

Thanks Jesin and Tara for your suggestions.

Tara the file is there.

Jesin, I make the change to the .htaccess file and this error still appreared.

Not Acceptable
An appropriate representation of the requested resource /wp-admin/options-permalink.php could not be found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago
Looks like your host doesn’t allow overriding mod_rewrite rules. So this has to be done manually.

Open phpmyadmin, open your WordPress database, select the SQL tab and run the following query

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value='/%postname%/' WHERE option_name='permalink_structure'

Then edit your .htaccess file and place the following.
```
# BEGIN WordPress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress
```
Thread Starter kb1234
(@karenbatten)

12 years, 5 months ago

Thanks again.
Ok so I have opened ‘phpmyadmin’ in cpanels.
I aimed to login to the database or SQL section but this error came up
#1045 Cannot log in to the MySQL server
Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago
Create a file named perma.php in the same directory as the wp-config.php file (usually public_html/) with the following code.
```
<?php
require_once 'wp-config.php';
mysql_connect( DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD );
mysql_select_db( DB_NAME );
echo ( mysql_query( "UPDATE wp_options SET option_value='/%postname%/' WHERE option_name='permalink_structure'" ) ? 'Success' : mysql_error() );
?>
```
Access this file and you’ll see “Success”, then add the .htaccess rules if they aren’t present.

Delete perma.php after this is done.
Thread Starter kb1234
(@karenbatten)

12 years, 5 months ago
Ok so I have placed the above code in a new file called ‘perma.php’ in teh public_html/ folder where the wp-config.php file is.

I don’t understand the next step
Access this file and you’ll see “Success”, then add the .htaccess rules if they aren’t present.

I have looked in the .htaccess file and this code is there
```
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
```
Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago

Did the file print “Success” when you accessed it? Then you are good to go. Permalinks must be working now.

megadeth23
(@megadeth23)

12 years, 5 months ago

If it helps any, I was having an issue getting permalinks to work as well. I just spent a good amount of time reading articles about permalinks. I came across one (sorry, dont remember where it was) that showed a permalink address as http://www.domain.com/index.php/blog-name. but when I checked my address bar to see where it was getting directed to, it didn’t have the index.php portion in it.

just for the hell of it, I selected custom structure and entered: /index.php/%postname%/

Surprisingly this actually worked. I think wordpress needs to have that issue fixed. Hopefully this will help you out

PS i did not do anything with any .htaccess files or anything like that. what you see above is all I did

megadeth23
(@megadeth23)

12 years, 5 months ago

just an update,

here is the link to the article I found
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Using_Permalinks

and the blurb that pointed me in the direction I went

“Otherwise, they are the same as the “pretty” mod_rewrite permalinks, and are similarly flexible. Anything that mod_rewrite permalinks can do, PATHINFO permalinks can do, with the help of that /index.php part. ”

Jesin A
(@jesin)

12 years, 5 months ago

@megadeth23 OP’s issue is completely different. Mod_security or some other Web Application Firewall is stripping out POST requests which contain the ‘%’ symbol. From the first post of OP

Under wordpress I have been going to settings > permalink and when I select the custom setting it just returns to the default and says the permalink structure updated, but it hasn’t.