Problems enabling clean URLs in apache 2.4

Question

I can't seem to figure out how to enable clean URLs in apache 2.4.6. I have an existing drupal site on ubuntu 12.04 under apache 2.2 and it works just fine. I made a new ubuntu 14.04 server and I managed to get everything installed correctly. I copied over my existing drupal site to the new server and the home page works. No other pages work and I get 404 not found errors because all the links on the site are clean URLs. Could someone point me in the right direction as to how to enable clean URLs? I already enabled the rewrite module... but without success. I can't access my admin or anything on the drupal site on the new server because clean URLs doesn't work...

Here is my .htaccess file:

#
# Apache/PHP/Drupal settings:
#

# Protect files and directories from prying eyes.
<FilesMatch "\.(engine|inc|info|install|make|module|profile|test|po|sh|.*sql|theme|tpl(\.php)?|xtmpl)(~|\.sw[op]|\.bak|\.orig|\.save)?$|^(\..*|Entries.*|Repository|Root|Tag|Template)$|^#.*#$|\.php(~|\.sw[op]|\.bak|\.orig\.save)$">
  Order allow,deny
</FilesMatch>

# Don't show directory listings for URLs which map to a directory.
Options -Indexes

# Follow symbolic links in this directory.
Options +FollowSymLinks

# Make Drupal handle any 404 errors.
ErrorDocument 404 /index.php

# Set the default handler.
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm

# Override PHP settings that cannot be changed at runtime. See
# sites/default/default.settings.php and drupal_environment_initialize() in
# includes/bootstrap.inc for settings that can be changed at runtime.

# PHP 5, Apache 1 and 2.
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_flag magic_quotes_gpc                 off
  php_flag magic_quotes_sybase              off
  php_flag register_globals                 off
  php_flag session.auto_start               off
  php_value mbstring.http_input             pass
  php_value mbstring.http_output            pass
  php_flag mbstring.encoding_translation    off
</IfModule>

# Requires mod_expires to be enabled.
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
  # Enable expirations.
  ExpiresActive On

  # Cache all files for 2 weeks after access (A).
  ExpiresDefault A1209600

  <FilesMatch \.php$>
    # Do not allow PHP scripts to be cached unless they explicitly send cache
    # headers themselves. Otherwise all scripts would have to overwrite the
    # headers set by mod_expires if they want another caching behavior. This may
    # fail if an error occurs early in the bootstrap process, and it may cause
    # problems if a non-Drupal PHP file is installed in a subdirectory.
    ExpiresActive Off
  </FilesMatch>
</IfModule>

# Various rewrite rules.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine on

  # Set "protossl" to "s" if we were accessed via https://.  This is used later
  # if you enable "www." stripping or enforcement, in order to ensure that
  # you don't bounce between http and https.
  RewriteRule ^ - [E=protossl]
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
  RewriteRule ^ - [E=protossl:s]

  # Make sure Authorization HTTP header is available to PHP
  # even when running as CGI or FastCGI.
  RewriteRule ^ - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

  # Block access to "hidden" directories whose names begin with a period. This
  # includes directories used by version control systems such as Subversion or
  # Git to store control files. Files whose names begin with a period, as well
  # as the control files used by CVS, are protected by the FilesMatch directive
  # above.
  #
  # NOTE: This only works when mod_rewrite is loaded. Without mod_rewrite, it is
  # not possible to block access to entire directories from .htaccess, because
  # <DirectoryMatch> is not allowed here.
  #
  # If you do not have mod_rewrite installed, you should remove these
  # directories from your webroot or otherwise protect them from being
  # downloaded.
  RewriteRule "(^|/)\." - [F]

  # If your site can be accessed both with and without the 'www.' prefix, you
  # can use one of the following settings to redirect users to your preferred
  # URL, either WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix. Choose ONLY one option:
  #
  # To redirect all users to access the site WITH the 'www.' prefix,
  # (http://example.com/... will be redirected to http://www.example.com/...)
  # uncomment the following:
  # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
  # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
  # RewriteRule ^ http%{ENV:protossl}://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
  #
  # To redirect all users to access the site WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix,
  # (http://www.example.com/... will be redirected to http://example.com/...)
  # uncomment the following:
  # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
  # RewriteRule ^ http%{ENV:protossl}://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

  # Modify the RewriteBase if you are using Drupal in a subdirectory or in a
  # VirtualDocumentRoot and the rewrite rules are not working properly.
  # For example if your site is at http://example.com/drupal uncomment and
  # modify the following line:
  # RewriteBase /drupal
  #
  # If your site is running in a VirtualDocumentRoot at http://example.com/,
  # uncomment the following line:
   RewriteBase /

  # Pass all requests not referring directly to files in the filesystem to
  # index.php. Clean URLs are handled in drupal_environment_initialize().
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
  RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

  # Rules to correctly serve gzip compressed CSS and JS files.
  # Requires both mod_rewrite and mod_headers to be enabled.
  <IfModule mod_headers.c>
    # Serve gzip compressed CSS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
    RewriteRule ^(.*)\.css $1\.css\.gz [QSA]

    # Serve gzip compressed JS files if they exist and the client accepts gzip.
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-encoding} gzip
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.gz -s
    RewriteRule ^(.*)\.js $1\.js\.gz [QSA]

    # Serve correct content types, and prevent mod_deflate double gzip.
    RewriteRule \.css\.gz$ - [T=text/css,E=no-gzip:1]
    RewriteRule \.js\.gz$ - [T=text/javascript,E=no-gzip:1]

    <FilesMatch "(\.js\.gz|\.css\.gz)$">
      # Serve correct encoding type.
      Header set Content-Encoding gzip
      # Force proxies to cache gzipped & non-gzipped css/js files separately.
      Header append Vary Accept-Encoding
    </FilesMatch>
  </IfModule>
</IfModule>

---------------------------here is my vhost file------

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerName www.religion-new.byu.edu

    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot

    # Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
    # error, crit, alert, emerg.
    # It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
    # modules, e.g.
    #LogLevel info ssl:warn

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    # For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
    # enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
    # include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
    # following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
    # after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
    #Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf
</VirtualHost>

# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName www.religion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias religion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias byureligion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.religion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias reled-new.byu.edu

    ServerAlias familyhistorylab-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.familyhistorylab-new.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/religion-new.byu.edu
    #<Directory />
    #   Options FollowSymlinks
    #   AllowOverride All
    #</Directory>
    #<Directory /home/administrator/webroot/religion.byu.edu/>
    #   Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    #   AllowOverride All
    #   Order allow,deny
    #   allow from all
    #</Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/religion-new.byu.edu/public>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerAlias reledresources-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.reledresources-new.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/reledresources-new.byu.edu
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/reledresources-new.byu.edu>
        Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerAlias calledtoserve.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.calledtoserve.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/calledtoserve.byu.edu
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/calledtoserve.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerAlias census-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.census-new.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/census-new.byu.edu
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/census-new.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/census-new.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerAlias globalmormonism-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.globalmormonism-new.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/globalmormonism-new.byu.edu
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/globalmormonism-new.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/globalmormonism-new.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerAlias paftutorial-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.paftutorial-new.byu.edu

    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/paftutorial-new.byu.edu
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/paftutorial-new.byu.edu/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot/religion-new.byu.edu
    ServerName religion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias byureligion-new.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.religion-new.byu.edu

    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
    </Directory>
    <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/religion-new.byu.edu>
        Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAlias 261.byu.edu
    redirect permanent / http://familyhistorylab.byu.edu/261
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAlias fore.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.fore.byu.edu
    ServerAlias friendsofreligiouseducation.byu.edu
    ServerAlias www.friendsofreligiouseducation.byu.edu
    redirect permanent / http://religion.byu.edu/fore
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

As mentioned by the others, you'll need to include

AllowOverride All

In the appropriate <Directory> stanza for your Drupal document root. Currently it looks commented out.

Otherwise .htaccess won't be read and the rewrite rules won't be applied.

It looks like you have two+ VirtualHost definitions with the same ServerName, you should also consolidate those to one.

Lastly, ensure mod_rewrite is enabled.

e.g:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

Answer 2

Enable mod_rewrite for Apache

a2enmod rewrite

Now edit the 000-default.conf located at /etc/apache2/sites-available/

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add the below mentioned lines just under DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
    <Directory /var/www/html>
        AllowOverride All
        Order Allow,Deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

This will add AllowOverride within the default website configuration

Make sure .htaccess is in the default web directory!

ls /var/www/html/.htaccess

If nothing shows after using the above command, download Drupal again and copy the .htaccess file to that directory

You're done!