Thread:Manual talk:Short URL/403 from changing .htaccess/reply (2)

You're not supposed to edit the .htaccess in cache, that one is there to hide the contents of the cache folder from the internet. .htaccess is also not supposed to be a directory.

In most cases when setting up short urls there will be no pre-existing .htaccess file where you need it and you'll be creating a new one with the code you have as its contents (but without that `Deny from all` line).

Since your MediaWiki install is in the root, the .htaccess you are creating should be in the same directory as LocalSettings.php and index.php.

So you'll have: /.htaccess /LocalSettings.php /index.php ...

All in the same directory.