Enable apache mod_rewrite in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS comes with Apache 2.4. This new version introduced different default config filenames and in general some differences. (DocumentRoot /var/www/html)
Activate the mod_rewrite module with
sudo a2enmod rewrite
and restart the apache
sudo service apache2 restart
To use mod_rewrite from within .htaccess files (which is a very common use case), edit the default VirtualHost with
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf
Below “DocumentRoot /var/www/html” add the following lines:
<Directory “/var/www/html”>
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
Restart the server again:
sudo service apache2 restart