How to Enable URL Rewriting for WordPress

If your WordPress path such as  https://www.yourbusiness.com/about-us are getting 404 error as shown in the picture below ,

You can add a ReWrite Rule in your .htaccess to resolve this issues.

1. Log into your backend 's File Manager

• For cPanel , you can follow this guide. Working with File Manager (cPanel)

2. Find the .htaccess file in your root domain's directory

3. Edit the following .htaccess file

4. Add the following Rewrite Code on the first line in the .htaccess .

• For single site WordPress , please use the code below .

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

• For Multisite WordPress , please use the code below.

# BEGIN WordPress Multisite
# Using subfolder network type: https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/htaccess/#multisite

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

# END WordPress Multisite

5. Saves the changes.

You can check again your WordPress site to see if the 404 error are resolve and the  https://www.yourbusiness.com/about-us can be opened normally now.

Updated on: 27/08/2025