I have found another DirectoryIndex directive in /etc/apache2/conf.d/gitweb.conf. Since this is higher up the chain than the vhosts.d directory that might be what's producing the file download behavior. If I omit the DirectoryIndex line and restart apache then I at least just get the 403 error but no file download. I have revised the vhosts.conf file to look like this: <VirtualHost 1.2.3.4:443> ServerAdmin webmaster@xxxxxxxxx ServerName www.site1.com ServerAlias site1.com *.site1.com DocumentRoot "/home/data/site1/htdocs" SSLEngine on SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/WWW.SITE1.COM.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl.key/www_site1_com.key SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/ov_chain.txt RewriteEngine On RewriteOptions Inherit <Directory "/home/data/site1/htdocs"> ## To make the blog work with pretty permalinks use the next 2 uncommented lines. ## Otherwise use 'Options None' and 'AllowOverride None'. Should this be in a separate directory block for the blog ## with some way, other than 'AllowOverride all' of rewriting the wordpress blog filename? AllowOverride None Options FollowSymlinks Require all granted </Directory> AccessFileName .htaccess ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/site1.com-error_log CustomLog /var/log/apache2/site1.com-access_log combined ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/home/data/site1/cgi-bin/" <Directory "/home/data/site1/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -Includes Require all granted </Directory> <Directory "/home/data/site1/htdocs/phpMyAdmin/"> AuthName "By Invitation Only" AuthType Basic AuthUserFile "/etc/apache2/passwd/password" Require user <certified user> </Directory> Include /etc/apache2/conf.d/*.conf </VirtualHost> This still produces the 403 error with this configuration. I'm not sure what FallbackResource I should use and where to put it. I don't see any references to a FallbackResource, such as module, in the links you provided. Still muddled, Jack Nilles --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx