# Are you finding index.php in the URL's of your Mautic instance?

**URL:** <https://forum.mautic.org/t/are-you-finding-index-php-in-the-urls-of-your-mautic-instance/12286>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Created:** [January 12, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/are-you-finding-index-php-in-the-urls-of-your-mautic-instance/12286 "2020-01-12T16:02:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![silavapi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/silavapi/32/7424_2.png) [@silavapi](https://forum.mautic.org/u/silavapi)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/are-you-finding-index-php-in-the-urls-of-your-mautic-instance/12286/1 "2020-01-12T16:02:28Z")

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Here is an issue I’ve come across a couple of times now when working with Mautic locally, so I thought I would document it in the forums in case anybody else experiences it.

## The problem 🤔

Mautic should not, by default, have **/index.php/** in the URL anywhere. It ships with an htaccess file which should do all the rewriting without /index.php. I started seeing it popping up in my Mautic instances locally, and couldn’t figure out why.

## Troubleshooting 🔧

Usually a htaccess file deals with the /index.php/ rewriting, so that’s the first place to start.

When I was extracting the files and moving them to the appropriate folder (using the UI rather than command line, sometimes I’m lazy!) it turned out that **I had not been moving hidden files**.

.htaccess is a hidden file, and it wasn’t apparently moved over - it was missing from my Mautic directory. This meant my Mautic instance had no htaccess file, so nothing to do the URL writing - hence the behaviour I was seeing.

### To view hidden files 💡

Windows: [https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files](https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files)  
Mac: In Finder, press together Cmd + Shift + . (dot) to toggle on/off

![htaccess-hidden](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/mautic/original/2X/7/7ae9cd6ef9c43fd6a383e518af5cbdeb2e447815.png)

## Solution ✅

Simply copy the .htaccess file from the download, and paste it into your Mautic directory.

Now, navigate to your Mautic instance without the /index.php/ in the URL and all should be well.

❗ Side note, you may need to manually clear your browser cache, sometimes it will cache URL.

You may also need to double check your configuration and remove /index.php/ from the URL if it is set like that from your installation.

 ![Screenshot 2020-01-12 at 15.59.19](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/mautic/original/2X/7/741edd653e178dd4816f23ead603ea2fb3ed7b99.png)

Hopefully this should resolve the issue!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dominic.mayers](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/dominic.mayers/32/13549_2.png) [@dominic.mayers](https://forum.mautic.org/u/dominic.mayers)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/are-you-finding-index-php-in-the-urls-of-your-mautic-instance/12286/2 "2025-04-28T16:56:35Z")

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Just to link this post to this other post: [index.php is now added to my URL string](https://forum.mautic.org/t/index-php-is-now-added-to-my-url-string/10678).