7. Extension Pack redirects user to hatchuck.form.html

Issue

Extension Pack redirects user to hatchuck.form.html:

Also, if you would open e.g https://subDomain.yourDomain.com/fileNameThatDoesNotExist.php - The page that will open will be Vtiger login page.

Reason

This behavior is possibly caused by .htaccess with 'mod_rewrite' rule.

• The rule:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

The .htaccess file causing this is likely NOT in vtiger folder, but in the parent folder.

Vtiger Folder: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/vtiger
Parent Folder: /home/cpaneluser/public_html

Parent Folder htaccess: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/.htaccess

Solutions

Solution 1

Edit (Or create new) .htaccess file in Vtiger folder and turn off RewriteEngine.

Vtiger Folder htaccess: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/vtiger/.htaccess

Add the following:

RewriteEngine Off

Solution 2

Modify .htaccess file in the Vtiger Parent Folder and turn off RewriteEngine (as in Solution #1).

Parent Folder htaccess: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/.htaccess

• Important: Understand the root cause before considering Solution #2 instead of #1

Now, what is the root cause of this issue?

The issue arises when Vtiger is installed in the WordPress directory.

Based on what we've seen, when using CPanel the yourDomain.com is usually pointing to the public_html e.g

/home/cpaneluser/public_html/

And if WordPress is installed on the yourDomain.com - that folder will have .htaccess automatically generated by WordPress which must include the RewriteEngine configuration.

Now, when you add a subdomain via CPanel, the folder subdomain will usually point to

/home/cpaneluser/public_html/yourSubDomain

• Assume yourSubDomain is where Vtiger is installed.

What happens next is, that Vtiger folder (yourSubDomain) may or may not have .htaccess, and if it does - it's likely that it will not have RewriteEngine rule (whatever the rule might be).

In standard CPanel configuration, the .htaccess rules will be inherited by all the subfolders, which in this case includes Vtiger folder.

Here's an example

WordPress Folder:     /home/cpaneluser/public_html/
Vtiger Folder:        /home/cpaneluser/public_html/yourSubDomain/
Some Other subfolder: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/test/

If Vtiger Folder does NOT have .htaccess file then it will inherit .htaccess rules from the parent folder (WordPress) as if the .htaccess file was in Vtiger Folder.

WordPress .htaccess: /home/cpaneluser/public_html/.htaccess
Vtiger (no .htaccess): /home/cpaneluser/public_html/yourSubDomain/

That means that the sames rules will apply to Vtiger folder (from WordPress folder)

/home/cpaneluser/public_html/.htaccess >> /home/cpaneluser/public_html/yourSubDomain/.htaccess

However, if you create .htaccess file in Vtiger Folder - it will no longer inherit from parent/WordPress folder and the Rewrite rule will not apply.

Keep in mind:

• This might also apply to different CMS engines other than WordPress.

• Also, there might not be an actual website in the parent folder, but there might be .htaccess.

• This would also apply if there is a more complicated folder structure e.g:

/home/cpaneluser/public_html/.htaccess << This could be one with Rewrite rule.
/home/cpaneluser/public_html/websites/.htaccess << This could also be one with Rewrite rule.
/home/cpaneluser/public_html/websites/yourdomain.com/
/home/cpaneluser/public_html/websites/yourdomain2.com/
/home/cpaneluser/public_html/websites/crm/.htaccess << This could also be one with Rewrite rule.
/home/cpaneluser/public_html/websites/crm/vtiger/

It's all about the inheritance from the parent folder.