Title: htaccess authentication (user admin: authentication failure)
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# htaccess authentication (user admin: authentication failure)

 *  Resolved [AlexRayan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrayan/)
 * (@alexrayan)
 * [11 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-admin-authentication-failure/)
 * Hi there!
 * Thank you for the great plugin! I use it on many sites including network installations.
 * I’m having the following issues though with one of the installations.
 * When I start the scan I get the following error in the error log:
    “user admin:
   authentication failure for “/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php”: Password Mismatch, referer:…”
 * It’s a multisite and the main domain has an htaccess authentication, while the
   other subsites are mapped to domains with a domain mapper with no authentication.
 * Do you think there could be a workaround for htaccess authentication causing 
   scanning issues?
 * I’d appreciate any feedback.
 * Best regards,
    Alex
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [WFSupport](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfsupport/)
 * (@wfsupport)
 * [11 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-admin-authentication-failure/#post-5482213)
 * We generally ask you not block access to that file because there are many functions
   that call that, not only our plugin. You get that a lot when people block access
   to wp-admin too.
 * theres a good explanation of it here:
 * [https://support.wordfence.com/support/solutions/articles/1000011128-i-use-an-htaccess-file-in-my-wp-admin-directory-for-an-added-layer-of-password-protection-can-i-u](https://support.wordfence.com/support/solutions/articles/1000011128-i-use-an-htaccess-file-in-my-wp-admin-directory-for-an-added-layer-of-password-protection-can-i-u)
 * Let me know if this helps.
 * tim
 *  Thread Starter [AlexRayan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrayan/)
 * (@alexrayan)
 * [11 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-admin-authentication-failure/#post-5482228)
 * Hi Tim,
 * Thank you for a quick response and a link! It was indeed helpful.
    I added admin
   ajax to allowed files. Looks like there’s something else that’s being blocked
   though, so I’m still investigating the reason why the scan won’t start, but I
   feel I’m on my way.
 * Best regards,
    Alex

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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## Tags

 * [authentication failure](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/authentication-failure/)
 * [multisite](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/multisite/)

 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [AlexRayan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexrayan/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-admin-authentication-failure/#post-5482228)
 * Status: resolved