Rewrite URL Not Working

[etsauer]

When I enable rewrite url on the settings page, I get 404 errors on the front-end. I think it has something to do with the .htaccess file, as there was already an .htaccess in that directory. I have now renamed that file and tried it again, but it still doesn't work. Can anyone tell me what exactly happens when this feature is enabled? Does it edit the .htaccess file? Does it just look for the presence of the file? How can I reset everything so that enabling the rewrite url function will work?

[ga.n]

please post your .htaccess file, it must looks like:

# Enable mod_rewrite
RewriteEngine On
# line below must be changed if you are have your website under something different from website root
# e.g. you website is located at http://www.example.com/somedir instead of http://www.example.com
RewriteBase / 

# Block any URI protocol in the query string
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (ftp|https?):|/etc/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

# Block any URI protocol in the request
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (ftp|https?):|/etc/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

# Rewrite TYPOlight URLs
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .*\.html$ index.php [L]

[etsauer]

my .htaccess file is as follows (actually, it is currently ._htaccess):

##
# Rewrite base
##
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

##
# Block malicious requests
##
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (ftp|https?):|/etc/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (ftp|https?):|/etc/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

##
# Compress .js and .css files
##
AddEncoding gzip .gz
AddType "text/javascript" .gz
AddType "text/css" .gz
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} \.(js|css)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.gz -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.gz [L]

##
# Rewrite TYPOlight URLs
##
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .*\.html$ index.php [L]

[ramjet]

theres your problem....rename it to .htaccess
._htaccess isn't read, its kind of like a backup

[lshore]

Anyone have any experience with modifying the typolight .htaccess file (rewrite specifically) for an ISP hosted zeus (zws) configuration. Needs a rewrite.script file but the syntax has defeated me.