Restore default WordPress .htaccess in Plesk (fix 500/404/redirect loops)

A broken .htaccess file is a common cause of:

• 500 Internal Server Error
• 404 Not Found on WordPress pages (while the homepage works)
• redirect loops (“too many redirects”)

On GARMTECH hosting (LiteSpeed + Plesk), .htaccess controls URL rewrites and many security/redirect rules. If it becomes corrupted or contains incompatible directives, restoring a clean version often fixes the site immediately.

Step 1: Find and back up .htaccess

1. Open Plesk via My.GARMTECH.
2. Go to Files and open httpdocs (the website root).
3. Enable hidden files display (File Manager settings) and locate .htaccess.
4. Download it or rename it to .htaccess.bak.

Step 2: Create a default WordPress .htaccess

Create a new file named .htaccess in httpdocs and paste the default WordPress rules:

# 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

If WordPress is installed in a subfolder (for example /blog/), change RewriteBase and the last rule accordingly.

Step 3: Regenerate permalinks

1. Log in to WordPress Admin.
2. Go to Settings → Permalinks.
3. Click Save Changes (without changing anything). WordPress will refresh rewrite rules.

Step 4: Add back only what you need

Some plugins add extra directives (security headers, cache rules, redirects). After confirming the site works, re-add only the required custom blocks (one by one) so you can see which rule breaks the website.

Tip: If you only need a simple redirect, consider doing it in Plesk hosting settings or in your application settings instead of complex rewrite rules.