How to Access Pages Outside vBulletin on Same Server

[Thoughtcrime69er]

Using vBulletin 5.5.4 Patch Level 2 after updating last week from 3.8.11

Need to access pages outside vBulletin, but on the same server. vBulletin takes control and prevents access, (depending on the error settings) either giving an error page or dragging the viewer back to the root.

Disabling .htaccess in the root allows access but turns off vBulletin.

Looking for .htaccess command that allows access to site-name/mysqldumper (with or without index.php)

Internal links from inside the forum work with basic files, but not with MySqlDumper. Once Backup is selected, mysqldumper fails.

[Wayne Luke]

Add an .htaccess in the 'sub-directory' that resets the rewrite. You can see an example of this in the .htaccess provided with vBulletin in case it is in a sub-directory itself.

    # In some cases where you have other mod_rewrite rules, you may need to remove the 
    # comment on the following RewriteBase line and change it to match your folder name. 
    # This resets the other mod_rewrite rules for just this directory
    # If your site was www.example.com/forum, the setting would be /forum/
    #RewriteBase /

In your own .htaccess file you would use something like:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /directoryname/
</IfModule>

[Thoughtcrime69er]

Thanks. I wasn't sure what that was and attempted it before and it didn't work. However, this time I did as you suggested. It didn't work, so I then tried it in the folder's own .htaccess and again the same command in both the root and the folder .htaccess. Still nothing.

Retaining it only in the root .htaccess I figured that it's being overridden by:

# Main Redirect
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|css)$
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?routestring=$1 [L,QSA]

As you can see, I shut that one down, and I once again had access to the folder with mysqldumper working as it should.

So, assuming that the order matters, I reactivated the #Main Redirect and placed the RewriteBase / at the end:

    # Main Redirect
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|css)$
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?routestring=$1 [L,QSA]
    RewriteBase /directoryname

I'm taking a guess that the order matters and that's why it works, but it does work.

Thank you for your assistance Wayne Luke Your advice sent me in the right direction.

Now I can properly switch the site off for a few minutes, back it up and switch it back on as it should - without the need to rename files and move folders (with the associated risks and other issues) via FTP.