Those of you who are avid frontpage users on Linux server know what I am talking about here. Apache has many wonderful features that can be tweaked via .htaccess, however sometimes altering FP\'s generated htaccess will appear to break FrontPage and disallow access to the web on the server. For example, take a standard FP-generated .htaccess file:

# -FrontPage-
IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti*

order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from all


order deny,allow
deny from all

AuthName www.affiliate-networks.us
AuthUserFile /home/affiliat/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.pwd
AuthGroupFile /home/affiliat/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.grp
Add some things to it like:

#// 4: Allow SSI in .html files
#// Most servers will only parse files ending in .shtml - uncomment all three lines below to fix
AddType text/html .html
AddHandler server-parsed .html
AddHandler server-parsed .htm
and FP is cool with it, but other things like:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\\.affiliate-networks\\.us [nc]
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^affiliate-networks\\.us [nc]
RewriteRule (.*) http://affiliate-networks.us/$1 [R=301,L]
and FP will prevent you from logging on to the web!
 
Well, here is a workaround:
In your web\'s root folder you will find this FrontPage-created folder:
 
_vti_bin/
 
And in that folder you will find two sub-folders also (obviously) created by FrontPage:
 
_vti_adm
_vti_aut
 
Inside EACH of those 3 folders there is an .htaccess file.
 
Within each of those three .htaccess files, you will add this line:
Options +FollowSymlinksand place it at the and of the document, following all the FrontPage-generated lines, leaving an empty line in between (for good measure). Remember to do this in each .htaccess file in each of the three directories, two of which (_vti_adm and _vti_aut) are nested within _vti_bin.
 
Now everything should work fine and you will again be able to publish pages to the web as normal
 
Note that this fix is for FrontPage 2003 and that these folder names may be slightly different (and perhaps not nested) if you\'re using an earlier version of FrontPage.