How to create a .htpasswd file without Apache? Read the article to find out. At Bobcares, with our Server Management Service, we can handle your issues.

How to create a .HTPASSWD File without Apache?

We can manually build an htpasswd file for Nginx by creating the password hash using the bcrypt tool and a few shell commands. Here are the steps:

1. Start a command prompt or terminal.

2. If it isn’t already installed, run the following command to install the bcrypt utility:

3. To create the password hash and save it to the htpasswd file, use the command below:

Change /path/to/htpasswd to the desired location and filename for the htpasswd file, and replace the username with the desired username. The openssl passwd -apr1 command generates an Apache-compatible MD5-based password hash, and the sed command escapes any forward slashes in the password hash with a dollar sign ($), which is necessary for Nginx.

4. For every additional user we want to add to the htpasswd file, repeat step 3 in the process.

5. Now we can set up Nginx to use the htpasswd file for authentication after the creation. Add the following lines to the Nginx configuration’s desired location block:

Change /path/to/htpasswd to the actual path and filename of the htpasswd file.

6. For the changes to take effect, save the Nginx configuration file and restart or reload Nginx.

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Conclusion

The MD5-based hashes produced by this method are compatible with Apache but are not the format that Nginx prefers. Nginx can still utilize them for authentication, though.