{"id":564,"date":"2016-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hostinger.io\/hostinger-tutorials\/uncategorized\/htaccesshow-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-for-everyone-except-you\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T13:24:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:24:58","slug":"how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","title":{"rendered":".htaccess “deny from all” command: how to restrict site access"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re currently testing your site or setting it to maintenance mode, you might want to restrict visitors from accessing it. You can do so by adding the deny from all<\/strong> command to .htaccess<\/strong>.<\/p>

In this tutorial, we’ll show you exactly how to do it. But first, let’s take an in-depth look at the .htaccess <\/strong>file.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>

What is .htaccess?<\/h2>

.htaccess<\/strong> stands for Hypertext Access<\/strong> – it’s a configuration file which is used by Apache-based web servers to modify the server’s behavior.<\/p>

You can also use the file for other purposes, such as creating a password for your site, changing your site’s time zone<\/a>, making a custom error page, changing the default index page<\/a> or redirecting URLs<\/a>. You just need to add a few commands to .htaccess<\/strong> to make it happen.<\/p>

For example, deny from all<\/strong> is a command that will allow you to apply access restrictions to your site.<\/p>

How to edit the .htaccess file?<\/h2>

If you want to edit the .htaccess<\/strong> file, you should enter the root folder of your site through your hosting control panel’s file manager or an FTP client<\/a> such as FileZilla<\/a>.<\/p>

Let’s cover how to edit an existing .htaccess<\/strong> file using Hostinger’s hPanel:<\/p>

    \n
  1. Log in to the hPanel<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Enter the File Manager<\/strong>, which is located under the Files<\/strong> section.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Access the public_html<\/strong> directory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Look for the .htaccess<\/strong> file, right-click on it, and choose edit<\/strong>.\"editing<\/li>\n<\/ol>

    You can start modifying the file right away. If you can’t find the .htaccess<\/strong> file in the public_html<\/strong> directory, you can create it yourself. Just click the New File<\/strong> button at the top right corner of the file manager, name it .htaccess<\/strong>, then click Create<\/strong>.<\/p>

    How to use .htaccess “deny from all” to restrict access<\/h2>

    Since a complete restriction would apply to your IP address too, you should identify your IP address beforehand using a tool like What Is My IP Address<\/a> and create an exception.<\/p>

    Make sure that your IP address is static<\/a>, not dynamic, so you won’t have to change it in the .htaccess<\/strong> file frequently.<\/p>

    Now, let’s place the deny from all<\/strong> command in the .htaccess<\/strong> file. Add the following code snippet to the top of the file if you want to block all access except yours:<\/p>

    order allow,deny\n\ndeny from all\n\nallow from IP<\/pre>
    Replace IP<\/strong> with your IP address to create the exception.<\/p>
    Now, if you want to allow access from all IP addresses but restrict access from a specific one, you can use this format:<\/p>
    order allow,deny\n\ndeny from UndesiredIP\n\nallow from all<\/pre>
    Here, as in the previous example, replace UndesiredIP<\/strong> with the IP address you want to restrict. Make sure to save the .htaccess<\/strong> file to apply the changes.<\/p>
    If you want to block access from specific countries<\/strong>, check out our other article here<\/a>.<\/p>
    \"Hostinger<\/a><\/figure>
    Conclusion<\/h2>
    Now you’ve learned that restricting access to your site can be done by using .htaccess<\/strong> with the deny from all<\/strong> command. Don’t forget to allow access to your own IP address!<\/p>
    Do you have further questions regarding the .htaccess deny from all<\/strong> command? Let us know in the comment section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    If you’re currently testing your site or setting it to maintenance mode, you might want to restrict visitors from accessing […]<\/p>\n
    Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_title":"How to Restrict Access to Your Site Using .htaccess deny from all","rank_math_description":"You can restrict visitors from viewing your site by adding the deny from all command to the .htaccess file. Here, we'll show you how to do it!","rank_math_focus_keyword":"htaccess deny from all","footnotes":""},"categories":[22628,22630],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hosting","category-technical-aspects"],"hreflangs":[{"locale":"en-US","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-UK","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/uk\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-IN","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/in\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-CA","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ca\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-PH","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ph\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-MY","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/my\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-AU","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/au\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0},{"locale":"en-NG","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/how-to-restrict-access-to-your-website-using-htaccess","default":0}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138130,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/138130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}