On Sun, 2008-04-06 at 09:54 -0400, Pam Astor wrote: > Thanks Iain, > > OK I just created the directory /passwd/passwords > and re ran the command as root, still no luck. err Hi. It sounds like you are very used to the 'Windows' way of doing things. I don't recommend creating a directory in the root filesystem for this purpose. Its a bad idea, and not even a good idea in Windows. Is there any real need to deny outsiders access to your genealogy site? You would probably get much help from outsiders (long-forgotten 2nd cousins etc) who stumble upon your site. This solution you are wanting, is not often used because of its inflexibility. I only see it used by extreme noobs, wanting to password-protect an area of their site. While family members will have their interest piqued by having access to a 'secret' site, their interest may wane at the annoyance of having to enter a user/password each time and 'disappear' once the initial novelty wears off. If you are wanting 'security through obscurity', an even quicker solution is simply to place an index.html file in your web directory /var/www/html This will stop a casual user from browsing and getting a listing of files at your site, since they will get a blank page if they go to www.yoursite.com Now add a directory (say) /familygenealogy2 and put all your genealogy web files in this directory. So for any member of your family to browse the site, they just need to point the browser to (and bookmark) www.yoursite.com/familygenealogy2 and once there. can browse any file you have placed. This will have the same security as requiring a user/password, since no-one can see the files unless they know the directory /familygenealogy2 exists. I really, really would choose this solution, rather than a single user/password.