.htaccess password protection

Password protect a directory with basic HTTP authentication. NOTE: This only works on Apache servers. Also note that these usernames and passwords and the resultant digest/hash are all sent as plain text over a non-secure connection. Use them at your own risk! Maybe in the future I'll add digest authentication in addition to basic authentication.

Notes about how this works etc

I did everything you say, and it doesn't work! - First of all, your host has to allow you to use per-directory authentication. The command in the httpd.conf file is AllowOverride AuthConfig. If it's not allowed, none of this will work.

I put in the same username and password twice but the password hash is different. - The passwords are encrypted using a salt value. Each time the salt value changes, the hash for the same password changes.

How is the hash created? - Basic HTTP authentication simply uses the crypt function with a 2-character salt. It works something like this: $hash = crypt ($password, 'xU');. 'xU' is the salt. For this script, two alpha-numeric chars are chosen randomly as the salt. See more examples.

I want you to help me with ___. - I'm avaliable for consultation or hire. :) Contact me and I'll be happy to get you a quote.