Some installations that use security plugins, or have strict server-imposed permissions, may encounter a warning at installation that says that the .htaccess file is not writable.

Method 1 (via web hosting “Control Panel”)

1. Log in to your web hosting providers account management page
2. Determine how to access the “Control Panel” (sometimes called CPanel, Plesk, or just “Control Panel”) for your website
3. Attempt to find a tool called “File Manager” or something similar
4. Open up the “File Manager” and then navigate to your website root folder.
   • The website root folder contains your “.htaccess”, “index.php”, and “wp-config.php” files.
   • The website root may be called “/”, “httpdocs”, “www”, or “public_html”
5. Find the .htaccess file and find an option (it may require right clicking on the file name, or clicking on a “manage” button) that allows you to change the permissions
6. The permissions should be set to 0644 — if they are already set to 0644, attempt to change them temporarily to 0666.  If you have to change them to 0666, we recommend only leaving this setting through the installation routine as it leaves the file too ‘publicly editable’.
   • 0644 means: write/readable by owner, readable by group, readable by all
   • 0444 means: readable by owner, readable by group, readable by all
   • If you are on a Windows server, you may not be able to change the permissions — if you come across this issue, please contact our support team for advice.
7. Run through the Pegasaas Accelerator WP installation  in your WordPress dashboard
8. Optionally, return and set the permissions back to 0444 or non-writable.

Method 2 (via FTP Access)

This method assumes you know how to access your site with an FTP/SFTP client.

1. Log in to your website with FTP/SFTP
2. Navigate to your website root folder.
   • The website root folder contains your “.htaccess”, “index.php”, and “wp-config.php” files.
   • The website root may be called “/”, “httpdocs”, “www”, or “public_html”
3. Find the .htaccess file and find an option (it may require right clicking on the file name, or clicking on a “manage” button) that allows you to change the permissions
4. The permissions should be set to 0644 — if they are already set to 0644, attempt to change them temporarily to 0666.  If you have to change them to 0666, we recommend only leaving this setting through the installation routine as it leaves the file too ‘publicly editable’.
   • 0644 means: write/readable by owner, readable by group, readable by all
   • 0444 means: readable by owner, readable by group, readable by all
   • If you are on a Windows server, you may not be able to change the permissions — if you come across this issue, please contact our support team for advice.
5. Run through the Pegasaas Accelerator WP installation in your WordPress dashboard
6. Optionally, return and set the permissions back to 0444 or non-writable by all.