Renaming index.php and accessing other pages in Joomla

Question

I have to do some modifications online on my website, and I don't want the users to see those pages. So I renamed index.php to index_orig.php and I put another index.html that show a message (WebSite under construction) for my users.

My problem is that I want to access online to the rest of my pages to check the modifications until satisfaction, but when I try to access the rest of the pages by their whole URL (404 error is shown). Example : www.mywebsite.com/floder1/pagetarget.php.

Answer 1

Put back index.php. In your global configuration, set the site to offline and put up a message and a logo etc (assuming you are on 2.5 or 3). You'll be able to login and see the site.

Please keep in mind that in a database driven cms there are not pages in the way that you would think of them in a static html site. Everything gets pushed into the index.php of your template file.

Answer 2

Update the directory default document on whatever webserver you are using. Also update any rewrite rules that may be pointing to index.php