How to remove index.php from URLs in Joomla 3.0

As we continue to review the SEO settings in Joomla 3.0, the next option we get to is Use URL rewriting. In our testing, we noticed that when the Use URL rewriting option was enabled, index.php was removed from our URLs. In this tutorial we'll show you how to use this Use URL rewriting tool in Joomla 3.0.

To enable Use URL rewriting in Joomla 3.0:

1. Log into your Joomla 3.0 dashboard
2. In the left menu, click on the Global Configuration link under the SYSTEM heading
3. There are several tabs at the top of the page. If you are not on the Site tab, click Site.
4. On the right side of the page, find the Use URL rewriting option (see the screenshot at the top of the article). Adjust the setting to Yes / No, and then click Save in the top left menu.

   Please be sure to take note of the following:
   
   Select to use a server's rewrite engine to catch URLs that meet specific conditions and rewrite them as directed. Available for IIS 7 and Apache.
   Apache users only! - Rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess before activating.
   IIS 7 users only! - Rename web.config.txt to web.config and install IIS URL Rewrite Module before activating.
   
   This setting only takes effect if your set Search Engine Friendly URLs to Yes.

   You can see in the table below how Use URL rewriting affected one of our URLs:
   
   

   Use URL rewriting - YES
   http://domain.com/2-uncategorised/1-this-is-my-first-test-article
   Use URL rewriting - NO
   http://domain.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/1-this-is-my-first-test-article