I have this codeingniter project structure webRoot | |/application | | | |/controllers | | | |/admin | |/public | | | |/admin | | | | | |/css | | |/img | |/css | |/img And this is my .htacess file, located in /public. I use this in every local project running xampp: <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L] </IfModule> <IfModule !mod_rewrite.c> # If we don't have mod_rewrite installed, all 404's # can be sent to index.php, and everything works as normal. # Submitted by: ElliotHaughin ErrorDocument 404 /index.php </IfModule> It works fine in localhost, but doesn't work in a dreamhost server. I always get "no input file specified". So after searching the web and trying lots of combinations, the best I got is this .htaccess file: Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^ index.php [L] With this one, if I go to http://development.mydomain.com - I see the codeigniter welcome page But if I go to: http://development.mydomain.com/admin - I see the directory listing of /public/admin and doesn't execute the controller in /application/controllers/admin Again, if I go to: http://development.mydomain.com/admin/admin - I see the private area, it executes the controller and goes to the default controller defined in routes, "dashboard" This works fine too: http://development.mydomain.com/admin/dashboard I have set in my config file: $config['index_page'] = ''; $config['base_url'] = ''; $config['uri_protocol'] = 'AUTO'; I think that whatever is wrong in my .htaccess is causing other path issues I have with my project. Any help would be great. Thanks to all in advance EDIT: I removed this line: RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d because admin directory exists, that's why I see the public directory listing. But now I see the codeigniter welcome page when I go to http://development.mydomain.com/admin So now my .htaccess file looks like: Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^ index.php [L] #RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L] I also tried with the commented RewriteRule but I get the same result.