Password protect directory with Apache: "couldn't check user. Check your authn provider!"

Question

I am trying to password protect a web directory with apache. I have the site set up like this:

D:/
   webapp/
      lib/
         .htpasswd
   document_root/
      admin/
         index.php
         .htaccess

The .htaccess has:

AuthName "Authorization Required" 
AuthType Basic 
AuthUserFile D:\webapp\lib\.htpasswd
require valid-user

And the .htpasswd has:

user:passworddigest

When I try to access localhost/index.php in the browser I get a 500 error. The apache error log has this:

["date"] [crit] [client "ip"] configuration error:  couldn't check user.  Check your authn provider!: /admin/

I have googled but I can't figure out what this error means in the context of my server. Anyone know what's up? Also, it would solve my problem if someone had a simple method of using apache for authenticating a web directory on a windows server.

Solution

If it is not a permissions problem like Jim B suggested above (I also suspect that) you might not have loaded the authn module in Apache - mod_authn. I do not know how to do that in Windows but I am pretty sure if you google around you will find out how it's done.

Comments

[EightBitTony]

Can the apache server (and the user it's running under) read D:\webapp\lib\.htpasswd?

[Explosion Pills]

Maybe not .. how can I check that in windows?

[lmat - Reinstate Monica]

Do any of these answers answer your question? (If so, please mark it as such ^_^)

[Explosion Pills]

Doesn't seem like a permissions problem, but I'll look into this. Thanks.

[Explosion Pills]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try but I don't think this is the problem since I'm getting a 500 instead of just a bad password.

[pkout]

Oh, I didn't notice that. Okay, then I would go to the httpd.conf file and try to find a line with this and uncomment it if it's commented out: LoadModule auth_digest_module modules/mod_auth_digest.so. Not sure as I run on Linux, but in theory this should work.