I see a 404 error page when accessing galleries through my Web Forwarder – what can I do?
You have installed the Web Forwarder from picdrop on your server according to our instructions and stumble across this phenomenon:
The link directly to your account works and you end up on your gallery overview. So e.g. www.deineseite.de/picdrop works perfectly.
However, all links to the galleries via your Web Forwarder show an error page. More precisely, a 404 error page with the design of your own website.
In this case, everything indicates that you have installed the Web Forwarder correctly on your server. A file with the name .htaccess has also ended up in your Web Forwarder folder. Apparently there is another .htaccess file in a main folder on your server that is getting in the way of the Web Forwarder.
Technical explanation: What exactly is a .htaccess file?
An .htaccess file is a configuration file for Apache servers, among other things. Several functions can be controlled in an .htaccess file: e.g. password protection for individual areas of your server, rules for the automatic redirection of URLs, etc.
Possible conflicts with multiple .htaccess files
If you use Wordpress for your website, then you most likely already have an .htaccess file on your server that ensures that the appropriate file is always loaded on your server for a specific URL. If the htaccess file does not find a suitable result on your server, a 404 error page will be displayed. This is also regulated in the .htaccess file.
The Web Forwarder from picdrop also provides an .htaccess file. This file specifies, for example, how the links to your galleries must be redirected in the background so that your galleries can be displayed.
Now it can happen that the .htaccess file in your main folder cannot find a rule for a gallery URL and is then always automatically redirected to an error page. The .htaccess file in your Web Forwarder directory is therefore bypassed and cannot resolve a gallery.
How can I get rid of the 404 error page?
To do this, you need to make changes to the .htaccess file in the main folder that belongs to your website. You need to add an exception there that explicitly excludes the Web Forwarder directory from being handled by your .htaccess file.
Unfortunately, we cannot offer a universal solution for this, as it can look different on every website. If you are not very familiar with this yourself, the person who usually takes care of your website, i.e. your webmaster, is the right address here! Feel free to forward the link to this article so that you can quickly find the right approach!
Another note on WordPress plugins
Especially with WordPress installations, it can also happen that plugins, e.g. to speed up your site or for search engine optimization, repeatedly make changes to the .htaccess - so even Web Forwarders that previously worked can suddenly point to the 404 error page due to a plugin update. It is therefore a good idea to search for the causes of these plugins too!