.htaccess (or 'how to password-protect part of your website')

• GoDaddy support this method of protecting directories.


• Create a .htaccess file in the directory you want to protect (all subdirectories will be also be protected).

(hint: you may need to surround the filename in double-quotes for Windows to accept it)


• Add the following lines:
  

  AuthName "Section Name"
  AuthType Basic
  AuthUserFile /full/path/to/.htpasswd
  Require valid-user
  



• Change "Section Name" to "Members Area" or something that makes sense for you.


• Create a .htpasswd file somewhere on your webserver (preferably NOT in your web-accessible directory structure).


• Update the AuthUserFile line of .htaccess to contain the full path to your new .htpasswd file. If you are using GoDaddy hosting, this full path will be: /home/content/u/s/e/username/html/.. where 'u', ’s’, and 'e' are replaced by the first three letters of your hosting username, and 'username' is replaced by your username. (for example, if my username was brian, and my .htpasswd file was uploaded to /mynewprotectedarea/.htpasswd, the full path would be /home/content/b/r/i/brian/html/mynewprotectedarea/.htpasswd)


• The .htpasswd file needs to contain encrypted username:password pairs for the people that will be allowed to access the protected directory. Visit this page and enter a username & password pair, click 'Create Password', then cut-and-paste the resulting encrypted password line into your .htpasswd file. You will need to repeat this step whenever you add a new username/password account.