3

I recently redesigned a site and there are loads of 404 pages, so to simplify things I want to add a redirect to my htaccess, redirecting any 404 pages to the home page.

I though it was as simple as adding this line to my htaccess file;

ErrorDocument 404 https://www.example.com

I've done this but it doesn't appear to be working. When I visit a URL on my site that doesn't exist (example.com/someLink), I'm still seeing a 404 page.

How can I achieve this?

  • The Joomla system redirect plugin is disabled.
  • I don't have any 3rd party SEO or redirect plugins installed.
  • I have no other modifications to the .htaccess file

My current .htaccess file contents are below.

##
# @package    Joomla
# @copyright  Copyright (C) 2005 - 2019 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license    GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
##

##
# READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE!
#
# The line 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems with some server configurations.
# It is required for the use of mod_rewrite, but it may have already been set by your
# server administrator in a way that disallows changing it in this .htaccess file.
# If using it causes your site to produce an error, comment it out (add # to the
# beginning of the line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef urls. If
# they work, then it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need to
# set it here.
##

## No directory listings
<IfModule autoindex>
  IndexIgnore *
</IfModule>

## Suppress mime type detection in browsers for unknown types
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
</IfModule>

## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options +FollowSymlinks
Options -Indexes

## Mod_rewrite in use.

RewriteEngine On

## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.
# If you experience problems on your site then comment out the operations listed
# below by adding a # to the beginning of the line.
# This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` on Joomla!
#
# Block any script trying to base64_encode data within the URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode[^(]*\([^)]*\) [OR]
# Block any script that includes a <script> tag in URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]*s)+cript.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Return 403 Forbidden header and show the content of the root home page
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
#
## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.

## Begin - Custom redirects
#
# If you need to redirect some pages, or set a canonical non-www to
# www redirect (or vice versa), place that code here. Ensure those
# redirects use the correct RewriteRule syntax and the [R=301,L] flags.
#

ErrorDocument 404 https://www.example.com

## End - Custom redirects

##
# Uncomment the following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root).
##

# RewriteBase /

## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
#
# If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request
# has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# internally rewrite the request to the index.php script
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.
2
  • Is your site in offline mode?
    – Lodder
    Sep 12, 2019 at 13:57
  • @Lodder no it's online
    – jonboy
    Sep 17, 2019 at 9:32

1 Answer 1

1

Just a shot in the dark here, but is your webserver configured to allow FileInfo overrides? If the main webserver config doesn't allow that, the ErrorDocument directive will be ignored in the .htaccess file.

You're looking for the directive AllowOverride in the main configuration.

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