WordPress and Let's Encrypt - Using HTTPS takes me to an HTML index page

Question

I recently got my site up and running following these tutorials:
How to Secure Apache with Let’s Encrypt
How to Install WordPress

My problem is that despite refusing standard HTTP connections, typing my domain simply takes me to my WordPress site. If I manually type “https://” before my domain, I’m taken to my HTML index/test page. What’s happening here?

Answer 1

hansen July 23, 2017

Hi @tylerferguson

Can you post your VirtualHost configurations for both HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443)?

Reply Report

tylerferguson July 23, 2017
@hansen
port 80:

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin admin@domain.org ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org DocumentRoot /var/www/domain.org/public_html ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =domain.org [OR] RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =www.domain.org RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent] </VirtualHost>

port 443:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerAdmin admin@domain.org ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org DocumentRoot /var/www/domain.org/public_html ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.org/fullchain.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.org/privkey.pem Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf </VirtualHost> </IfModule>

Now that I look at it, I think I have to set the DocumentRoot to my WordPress directory, correct?
Reply Report
- hansen July 23, 2017
  
  @tylerferguson
  
  Correct, the DocumentRoot should be your web root, so in your case it’s the WordPress directory.
  
  And you can change your <VirtualHost *:80> block to this:
  
  <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org Redirect permanent / https://www.domain.org/ </VirtualHost>
  
  Reply Report
  
  tylerferguson July 23, 2017
  
  Thank you! And just to clarify, I simply change the DocumentRoot to where files like wp-settings.php are? (In this case in /var/www/html/?)
  
  Reply Report
  
  hansen July 23, 2017
  
  @tylerferguson
  Correct, your DocumentRoot should point to the directory where you have your wp-config.php, so that would be:
  
  DocumentRoot /var/www/html
  
  Reply Report
  
  tylerferguson July 23, 2017
  
  Works like a charm! Thanks again for the help!
  
  Reply Report
  
  afoltzm February 18, 2018
  
  @hansen
  
  I followed these steps, redirecting the 443 config to /var/www/html, but now I’m getting a 404 error when I go to my domain. I did all these steps before configuring wordpress on the droplet - is that the cause, or might it be something else?
  
  Reply Report

Answer 2

tylerferguson July 23, 2017
@hansen
port 80:

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin admin@domain.org ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org DocumentRoot /var/www/domain.org/public_html ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =domain.org [OR] RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =www.domain.org RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,NE,R=permanent] </VirtualHost>

port 443:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerAdmin admin@domain.org ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org DocumentRoot /var/www/domain.org/public_html ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.org/fullchain.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.org/privkey.pem Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf </VirtualHost> </IfModule>

Now that I look at it, I think I have to set the DocumentRoot to my WordPress directory, correct?
Reply Report
- hansen July 23, 2017
  
  @tylerferguson
  
  Correct, the DocumentRoot should be your web root, so in your case it’s the WordPress directory.
  
  And you can change your <VirtualHost *:80> block to this:
  
  <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName domain.org ServerAlias www.domain.org Redirect permanent / https://www.domain.org/ </VirtualHost>
  
  Reply Report
  
  tylerferguson July 23, 2017
  
  Thank you! And just to clarify, I simply change the DocumentRoot to where files like wp-settings.php are? (In this case in /var/www/html/?)
  
  Reply Report
  
  hansen July 23, 2017
  
  @tylerferguson
  Correct, your DocumentRoot should point to the directory where you have your wp-config.php, so that would be:
  
  DocumentRoot /var/www/html
  
  Reply Report
  
  tylerferguson July 23, 2017
  
  Works like a charm! Thanks again for the help!
  
  Reply Report
  
  afoltzm February 18, 2018
  
  @hansen
  
  I followed these steps, redirecting the 443 config to /var/www/html, but now I’m getting a 404 error when I go to my domain. I did all these steps before configuring wordpress on the droplet - is that the cause, or might it be something else?
  
  Reply Report

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