Password-protect access to WordPress with Apache

To configure Apache to request a username and password when accessing your application, follow these steps:

• Log in via SSH to your WordPress instance.

• At the console, type the following commands. Remember to replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your desired username and desired password respectively.

  $ cd /opt/bitnami
  $ sudo ./apache/bin/htpasswd -cb apache/conf/wordpress_users USERNAME PASSWORD
  

• Edit the /opt/bitnami/apache/conf/vhosts/wordpress-vhost.conf file and add the following lines. You also need to comment the Require all granted line as shown below:

  AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
  <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80 _default_:80>
    ...
        # Require all granted
        DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
  
        AuthType Basic
        AuthName "Authentication required to enter the site"
        AuthUserFile "/opt/bitnami/apache/conf/wordpress_users"              
        Require valid-user
    ...
  
  </Directory>
  

• Restart the Apache server in each WordPress instance:

  $ sudo service bitnami restart apache
  

When accessing the application, you will see the following authentication popup window. Enter the username and password that you have defined in the first step:

To change the password later, run the htpasswd utility without the -c switch:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/apache/bin/htpasswd /opt/bitnami/apache/conf/wordpress_users USERNAME