Title: Pretty Permalinks Problem
Last modified: August 31, 2016

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# Pretty Permalinks Problem

 *  [greenandrewmichael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/greenandrewmichael/)
 * (@greenandrewmichael)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/)
 * Hi all,
 * Website: [http://scoutingtrojans.com/](http://scoutingtrojans.com/)
 * I am having trouble setting up pretty permalinks on my site. I have spend time
   reading about this online and have not found a resolution as yet.
 * When I turn the permalinks to /%postname%/ I get the message that my .htaccess
   file isn’t writeable, and I need to manually add the code into it.
 * 1. I checked my FTP, there was no .htaccess file, so I created one and inserted
   the code provided. This crashed the site and I received a “500 Error” page.
 * 2. I checked with my host that mod_rewrite was set up, and it is.
 * 3. I’m at a loss. Any help is very much appreciated.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * (@senff)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366508)
 * I checked my FTP, there was no .htaccess file, so I created one and inserted 
   the code provided. This crashed the site and I received a “500 Error” page.
 * A .htaccess file may need a little more than that. Did only put the code in it
   that WordPress suggested, or is there a little more to it? This is what it should
   contain basically (before you add 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
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [greenandrewmichael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/greenandrewmichael/)
 * (@greenandrewmichael)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366510)
 * Thanks.
 * I just added that code in and I got the same “500” error.
 * I left it in there so you can see here: [http://scoutingtrojans.com/](http://scoutingtrojans.com/)
 *  [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * (@senff)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366533)
 * Site works for me! I guess you took it out again.
 * Normally, having a basic .htaccess like that (it’s the default WordPress .htaccess
   contents) shouldn’t crash the site, so I wonder if there’s something else going
   on.
 *  Thread Starter [greenandrewmichael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/greenandrewmichael/)
 * (@greenandrewmichael)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366534)
 * I did. Didn’t want it to be down for too long.
 * A potentially unanswerable question, but would you have any suggestions about
   where I could start to troubleshoot this?
 *  [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * (@senff)
 * [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366535)
 * It would help tremendously if you would take a look at the server logs; that 
   should give you an idea what the actual problem is, and that could help you in
   the direction of the cause.
 * Other than that, the standard way of troubleshooting WordPress, is to start with
   a default theme and no plugins. Then make your change and see if it breaks your
   site. If it doesn’t, enable plugins one by one to figure out if any of those 
   could be the issue.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Pretty Permalinks Problem’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

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

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Senff – a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/senff/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pretty-permalinks-problem/#post-7366535)
 * Status: not resolved

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