You probably need to change your AllowOverride in your /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf
I understand the dangers of AllowOverride ALL particularly if you have users on the machine with access other than yourself.
I had to change mine to ALL to get my .htaccess files working and have spent some time since reading on what would be the better choice of the available options or combinations therein..
What's the best thing to put in there to make .htaccess work for passwords, and things like denying image leeching.. but still not allow the dangerous "ALL"..
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