Oooops ! I have messed up my Plusnet Webspace Password Protection

[#1]

It has been a while since I password protected a folder on my Plusnet webspace but I needed to do so today.  So I created a new .htaccess file and a new .htpasswd file and used my old FTP software as usual to transfer the two files to the folder I wished to protect.

Nothing seemed to happen.  So I tried again and again.....and again.  No change.

So then I thought that maybe these days a .ht file might be hidden.  The best way to find out was to go to the URL of the folder to see what would happen.

To my surprise and chagrin, I find that I do not have access now to ANY folders on my webspace without first entering the password.  It seems that by default the .htaccess and .htpasswd files have been loaded into the htdocs folder - maybe they always did before, I cannot remember.

So I decided to delete the .htfaccess and .htpasswd files from htdocs.  But they are not to be found !  I am assuming that they are hidden which I am sure they were not before, unless I have a poor memory.

I am desperate to sort this out as I know someone is trying to download an important document from one of my other folders which I did not mean to protect.  So can anyone tell me how to be able to see  the .htfaccess and .htpasswd files in htdocs so that I can delete them before I get into trouble ?

By the way - Wales 25, Ireland ????

[#2]

Files that begin with a dot are automatically hidden on Linux file systems.

Have you tried renaming the two hidden files to names without a leading dot?

It's quite possible that it won't work, though.

Alternatively, you could download the file (with password) and upload it to a site that gives a few GB of free storage.

I would suggest https://mega.nz and your contact could download it from an appropriate link.

[#3]

Hi @shermans 

Usually there's an option within your FTP client to be able to see hidden files. Which client are you using?

[#4]

Thanks for the reply.  I am using a very old bit of software from 95 days - simple but works, so never had a need to change it until now !  I can find no facility to unhide.

It is called :FTP    WS_95 LE

And please don't laugh - it has served me well !

[#5]

Hiya @shermans 

I'm not familiar with that software I'm afraid. Can you find an option within the settings to enable hidden files?

Alternatively, one option may be to try Filezilla. This is an alternative client, and will enable you to view the hidden files, and subsequently remove the un-needed ones.

https://filezilla-project.org/download.php is their website if you want to give it a go

[#6]

I had already tried that.  That is how I managed to load it in the first place, because whenever I uploaded the .htaccess file, of course I could not see it.  So I did what you said and then renamed it with the preceding dot when it disappeard suddenly.  I did not realise that I had succeeded at the time until I tried to access the URL and had to enter a password at the HTdocs level.

If necessary I can upload to different stirage but it would mean having to tell many peopel - and to make matters wors, I have had to report to Plusnet tonight that my email system is not working and I am not receiving emails.  It is not my day !

I just hope someone from Plusnet sees my posting about the email system and responds or I am really in trouble.

[#7]

Now you are just showing your age !  Too young to remember W95 or Windows 3.1 !

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.  Success indeed.  I found the hidden .htaccess and .htpasswd files and moved them directly into the folder itself.  That sorted it out.  However, now you cannot even see the folder because the two files make the whole folder hidden.  But if I address the URL followed by /filename, I am asked to enter the password and it opens up just, like the doctor ordered.

In the meantime, all the other folders can be accessed without the need for a password.

So thanks to you, problem 1 sorted.  Now about my email ...?

[#8]

Hi @shermans 

That's great news, thanks for letting me know. 

Funnily enough, my first PC was Windows 95. 486 DX 66 MHz with a whopping 8mb of RAM!

Regarding the email problem, we have an open incident internally looking into this. 

As a work-around in the meantime, other customers are reporting that if you set the forwarder up in 123-reg's end to forward to multiple email addresses, they work again. As such, if you have a Gmail, or other alternative email, put that in the forwarder too and it should allow the forwarder to work again.

I know this isn't a fix, but it is a workaround until the problem has been located, and will allow your emails to function again.

[#9]

Once again, very grateful for the help on email.  I will try setting up a few forwards with multiple addresses but cannot do it for everything because I must have more than 100 forwarders, some duplicated from co.uk when I automatically qualified for the .uk by Nominet.  Put simply, any business like, say, the electricity or water company with whom I have dealings are given an email address like electricty@shermans.co.uk or electricity@shermans.uk; that way if I get spam sent to that address, I know where they got my address from.  So it would take a while to add forwarders to all the aliases.

Now, if we are going to start a spitting competition, my first computer was a Tandy with 1k of memory. and a cassette recorder,  then I graduated to an Acorn, and my first real PC had a single 160k floppy, which I upgraded to two, then I got the next computer with two 360k floppies, and eventually in about 1982 a 10Mb Winchester, would you believe.  So W95 was still a long way off !  Although I still use a lot of W 95 software on Windows 10 - the first photo editor, which I still use every day, came with my first digital camera using W 95, and it does most of what Photoshop today does !