---
title: "Allow public access to a file in a protected directory using .htaccess"
description: "Within your website structure, there are many times when you may want to protect directories from outside access. This prevents any user from accessing a subdirectory of your site, and its files,..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/access-protected-dir/
date: 2013-02-07
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "Scott Mitchell"
categories: ["Website"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Allow public access to a file in a protected directory using .htaccess

Within your website structure, there are many times when you may want to protect directories from outside access. This prevents any user from accessing a subdirectory of your site, and its files, without a username and password. There may be a time, however, when you want to allow access to a single file within a password directory and it is not feasible to move the file to an unprotected directory or folder. The instructions below will guide you in how to **allow access to a single file in a password protected directory using your `.htaccess` file**.
 

## How to allow access to a file in a protected directory

 

1. [Log into your cPanel](/support/edu/cpanel/how-to-log-into-cpanel/) dashboard.
2. [Access the *File Manager*](/support/edu/cpanel/using-file-manager-in-cpanel/) under the *Files* section and navigate to the password protected folder. Make sure you enable the ability to [show hidden files](/support/website/show-hidden-files-in-file-manager/) by clicking *Settings* at the top right and clicking the check box for *Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)*.
3. Within the password protected folder will be an .*htaccess* file that contains the security code to activate the password popup. Highlight the `.htaccess` file and click on the *Edit* icon from the toolbar across the top of the page.
4. Once inside the editor, you will see the security code. It will appear similar to the example below. Our example directory was test, so attempting to access* inmotiontesting.com/test* resulted in a popup box asking for username and password. `AuthName "test-protect"AuthUserFile "/home/userna5/.htpasswds/public_html/test/passwd"AuthType Basicrequire valid-user` You will need to add the following code for each file you want to allow access to after the code above. In this example, we are allowing access to a file named *test.php*. Note the before the . in the filename and the $ at the end. You will want to do this for your file name as well to ensure access is given to that exact file. `<filesmatch "test.php$"="">Satisfy AnyAllow from all`
5. Click on the *Save Changes* button in the upper right corner to finalize and activate the code. Now you will be able to access the specific file named test.php but no other files within that directory.