Question: Website on Plesk returns error 500: Invalid command 'RewriteEngine', or pages for all sites return 404
Applicable to:Symptoms- Websites that are using the rewrite module for Apache are inaccessible with the HTTP Error 500.
- Error like the following could be found in Apache logs in Domains > example.com > Logs or in /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/logs/error_log:
[core:alert] [client 203.0.113.2:40913] /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/.htaccess: Invalid command 'RewriteEngine', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
- Module rewrite_module for Apache is not loaded:
# httpd -M | grep -i rewrite
- Main websites' pages work, but permalinks result in a 404 error, with no log entries.
CauseRewrite module for Apache is disabled.
ResolutionEnable rewrite_module module:
1.Log in to Plesk.
2.Go to
Tools & Settings > Apache Web Server > Apache modules.
4.Check
rewrite and click
OK.