If you’re getting the above error message, check to make sure that your httpd.conf file has AllowOverride All on. This basically tells Apache to check the HTACCESS file for rules, otherwise, it may ignore it or throw errors.

Additionally, if you’re getting a 500 internal server error, be sure to check your “logs” files for the site in question. It can be a disaster trying to depict what’s wrong when Apache can directly tell you through the log file (why it doesn’t output right to the browser’s a mystery).