Having trouble changing permalink settings?

A WPUniversity reader asked:

When I try and change my permalink settings, I am getting a 404 error page.

I want to change them from the …p=123 format to /services, so that it will be better for SEO.

Thanks for the question, we actually get this one a lot. For the purposes of this answer we’re going to assume that you’re using a linux based server. If you are using Windows, let us know in the comments but Linux is far more common and it’s what you should be using to host WordPress.�

Here are some steps you can take to fix the 404 Error you’re getting:

1. Make sure you are following this guide�on WordPress Permalinks, if you have all of that set properly and enabled then;

2. If it’s not enabled, enable mod_rewrite in your apache2 installation.

3. Change “AllowOverride None” to “AllowOverride All” in your virtual host config.

4. Create an .htaccess file in your WP’s root dir or edit the one already there and make sure it looks like this:

# BEGIN WordPress
< IfModule mod_rewrite.c >
RewriteEngine On 
RewriteBase /content/ 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d 
RewriteRule . /content/index.php [L] 
< /IfModule >
# END WordPress

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