# MediaWiki question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605 "2010-01-12T02:41:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605/1 "2010-01-12T02:41:25Z")

</div>

Is there a way to make my MediaWiki site private so that only registered users can see it? I basically want to make my own wiki site that is just private information for myself.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605/2 "2010-01-12T03:22:41Z")

</div>

I don’t think MediaWiki has that feature built-in, but you could add HTTP authentication at the server level by tweaking your server configuration, e.g. by using a [.htaccess](http://www.elated.com/articles/password-protecting-your-pages-with-htaccess/) file, if you’re running Apache.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605/3 "2010-01-12T14:14:04Z")

</div>

> [@friedo](#):
>
> I don’t think MediaWiki has that feature built-in, but you could add HTTP authentication at the server level by tweaking your server configuration, e.g. by using a [.htaccess](http://www.elated.com/articles/password-protecting-your-pages-with-htaccess/) file, if you’re running Apache.

If I did that would it affect my other sites or can I put an .htaccess file only in the Mediwiki folder?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605/4 "2010-01-12T15:10:21Z")

</div>

You can put it in a particular folder and it won’t affect stuff outside that folder. A .htaccess file is roughly equivalent to a \<Directory\> directive in the Apache configuration.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mediawiki-question/524605/5 "2010-01-12T15:14:19Z")

</div>

> [@friedo](#):
>
> You can put it in a particular folder and it won’t affect stuff outside that folder. A .htaccess file is roughly equivalent to a \<Directory\> directive in the Apache configuration.

I am on an ISP and most of my stuff is one-click install so I’ve never done any of that kind of configuration. Is there anything special I need to do to install it or can I just put a constructed file in the appropriate folder? I mean, do I need to configure the web server on some level to point to the file?