[Bug]: Doesn't work correctly when server is under a URI (`/nextcloud`) AND `.htaccess` and pretty URL are active

[avibrazil]

⚠️ This issue respects the following points: ⚠️

• This is not a troubleshooting question, general support matter, or webserver/proxy problem, but likely a bug (if unsure, ask the Community Help Forum).
• This issue is not already reported on Github OR solved at the Community Help Forum (I've searched!).
• I'm using a maintained major version of Nextcloud Server and tested against the latest patch level. (Supported major versions and current patch levels).
• I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.
• I've tried my best to provide clear reproduction steps that someone unfamiliar with this bug could use to reproduce it.

Bug description

Works well when under a URI (http://server/nextcloud). But when I try to activate pretty URLs with .htaccess, many things break:

• missing backgrounds
• can't login: I see many error 404 in browser console, but those URLs seem to work when accessed individualy
• can't login with device: I see error 405 in console for POST in URL http://server/nextcloud/login/webauthn/start
• if I activate .htaccess while already logged in, the pages come without style, ugly typefaces, white background, bad layout

Steps to reproduce

1. Use Fedora official packages, which install Nextcloud under /nextcloud
2. Activate .htaccess and pretty URLs
3. Access server

Expected behavior

I expected that index.php simply disappears from URLs

Nextcloud Server version

34

Operating system

Other

PHP engine version

PHP 8.4

Web server

Apache (supported)

Database engine version

PostgreSQL

Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?

Fresh Nextcloud Server install

Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?

No response

What user-backends are you using?

• Default user-backend (database)
• LDAP/ Active Directory
• SSO - SAML
• Other

Configuration report

# (cd /usr/share/nextcloud; runuser -u apache -- ./occ config:list system)
{
    "system": {
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "installed": true,
        "version": "34.0.3.2",
        "dbtype": "pgsql",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtableprefix": "oc_",
        "mail_smtpmode": "sendmail",
        "mail_sendmailmode": "pipe",
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpsecure": "ssl",
        "mail_smtphost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "LOGIN",
        "mail_smtpauth": 1,
        "mail_smtpname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtppassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "maintenance": false,
        "memcache.local": "\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu",
        "opcache.revalidate_freq": 60,
        "opcache.jit": 1255,
        "opcache.jit_buffer_size": "128M",
        "default_phone_region": "BR",
        "bulkupload.enabled": true,
        "updatechecker": false,
        "check_for_working_htaccess": true,
        "asset-pipeline.enabled": false,
        "trusted_domains": [
            "server.local",
            "localhost"
        ],
        "enable_previews": true,
        "enabledPreviewProviders": [
            "OC\\Preview\\PNG",
            "OC\\Preview\\JPEG",
            "OC\\Preview\\GIF",
            "OC\\Preview\\BMP",
            "OC\\Preview\\XBitmap",
            "OC\\Preview\\MP3",
            "OC\\Preview\\TXT",
            "OC\\Preview\\MarkDown",
            "OC\\Preview\\OpenDocument",
            "OC\\Preview\\Krita",
            "OC\\Preview\\HEIC",
            "OC\\Preview\\Movie",
            "OC\\Preview\\SVG"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "assetdirectory": "\/var\/lib\/nextcloud",
        "htaccess.RewriteBase": "\/nextcloud",
        "overwrite.cli.url": "https:\/\/cloud.homeavi.alkalay.net:444\/nextcloud",
        "preview_libreoffice_path": "\/usr\/bin\/libreoffice",
        "apps_paths": [
            {
                "path": "\/usr\/share\/nextcloud\/apps",
                "url": "\/apps",
                "writable": false
            },
            {
                "path": "\/var\/lib\/nextcloud\/apps",
                "url": "\/apps-appstore",
                "writable": true
            }
        ],
        "log_type": "syslog",
        "syslog_tag": "Nextcloud",
        "logfile": "",
        "loglevel": 2,
        "theme": "",
        "ncd_admin_settings": {
            "ncd_aria2_binary": "\/usr\/bin\/aria2c",
            "ncd_yt_binary": "\/usr\/bin\/yt-dlp",
            "focusVisibleAdded": ""
        },
        "mail_smtpport": "465",
        "app_install_overwrite": [
            "nextbackup",
            "news"
        ],
        "global_aria2_config": [],
        "filelocking.enabled": true,
        "memories.exiftool_no_local": true,
        "memories.vod.path": "\/var\/lib\/nextcloud\/apps\/memories\/bin-ext\/go-vod-amd64",
        "memories.vod.ffmpeg": "\/usr\/bin\/ffmpeg",
        "memories.vod.ffprobe": "\/usr\/bin\/ffprobe",
        "memories.db.triggers.fcu": true,
        "csrf.optout": [
            "\/^.*nextcloudcmd.*\/",
            "\/^.*Nextcloud.*\/"
        ],
        "twofactor_enforced": "false",
        "twofactor_enforced_groups": [],
        "twofactor_enforced_excluded_groups": [],
        "config_preset": 2
    }
}

List of activated Apps

# (cd /usr/share/nextcloud; runuser -u apache -- ./occ app:list)
Enabled:
  - activity: 7.0.0
  - admin_audit: 1.24.0
  - app_api: 34.0.0
  - appstore: 1.0.0
  - bruteforcesettings: 7.0.0
  - cloud_federation_api: 1.18.0
  - comments: 1.24.0
  - dashboard: 7.14.0
  - dav: 1.40.0
  - federatedfilesharing: 1.24.0
  - federation: 1.24.0
  - files: 2.6.0
  - files_downloadlimit: 5.2.0
  - files_external: 1.26.0
  - files_lock: 34.0.1
  - files_pdfviewer: 7.0.0-dev.0
  - files_reminders: 1.7.0
  - files_sharing: 1.26.0
  - files_trashbin: 1.24.0
  - files_versions: 1.27.0
  - firstrunwizard: 7.0.0-dev.0
  - groupfolders: 22.0.6
  - guests: 4.9.0
  - impersonate: 5.0.0
  - logreader: 7.0.0
  - lookup_server_connector: 1.22.0
  - news: 28.7.0
  - nextcloud_announcements: 6.0.0
  - notifications: 7.0.0-dev.1
  - oauth2: 1.22.0
  - office: 1.0.0
  - oidc: 2.0.9
  - passwords: 2026.7.20
  - photos: 7.0.0
  - profile: 1.3.0
  - provisioning_api: 1.24.0
  - related_resources: 5.0.0-dev.0
  - serverinfo: 6.0.0
  - settings: 1.17.0
  - survey_client: 6.0.0-dev.0
  - text: 8.0.0
  - theming: 2.9.0
  - twofactor_backupcodes: 1.23.0
  - twofactor_totp: 16.0.0
  - twofactor_webauthn: 2.7.0
  - user_migration: 10.5.0
  - user_status: 1.14.0
  - viewer: 7.0.0-dev.0
  - weather_status: 1.14.0
  - webhook_listeners: 1.6.0
  - workflowengine: 2.16.0
Disabled:
  - circles: 34.0.0 (installed 24.0.1)
  - contactsinteraction: 1.15.0 (installed 1.5.0)
  - encryption: 2.22.0
  - password_policy: 6.0.0-dev.0 (installed 1.14.0)
  - privacy: 6.0.0-dev.1 (installed 1.8.0)
  - recommendations: 7.0.0 (installed 1.3.0)
  - sharebymail: 1.24.0 (installed 1.14.0)
  - support: 6.0.0 (installed 1.5.0)
  - suspicious_login: 12.0.0-dev.0
  - systemtags: 1.24.0 (installed 1.14.0)
  - twofactor_nextcloud_notification: 8.0.0
  - updatenotification: 1.24.0 (installed 1.14.0)
  - user_ldap: 1.25.0

Nextcloud Signing status

No errors have been found.

Nextcloud Logs

Additional info

No response

[SystemKeeper]

Hey, did you recreate the htaccess with occ after adding the rewrite?

[avibrazil]

Hey, did you recreate the htaccess with occ after adding the rewrite?

Yes, of course. Here is how I created .htaccess and its content:

bash# touch /usr/share/nextcloud/.htaccess
bash# chown apache: /usr/share/nextcloud/.htaccess
bash# (cd /usr/share/nextcloud; runuser -u apache -- ./occ maintenance:update:htaccess)
bash# cat /usr/share/nextcloud/.htaccess
#### DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE ####

ErrorDocument 403 /nextcloud/index.php/error/403
ErrorDocument 404 /nextcloud/index.php/error/404
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  Options -MultiViews
  RewriteRule ^core/js/oc.js$ index.php [PT,E=PATH_INFO:$1]
  RewriteRule ^core/preview.png$ index.php [PT,E=PATH_INFO:$1]
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !\.(css|js|mjs|svg|gif|ico|jpg|jpeg|png|webp|html|otf|ttf|woff2?|map|webm|mp4|mp3|ogg|wav|flac|wasm|tflite)$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/core/ajax/update\.php
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/core/img/(favicon\.ico|manifest\.json)$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/(cron|public|remote|status)\.php
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/ocs/v(1|2)\.php
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/robots\.txt
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/(ocs-provider|updater)/
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/\.well-known/(acme-challenge|pki-validation)/.*
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/richdocumentscode(_arm64)?/proxy.php$
  RewriteRule . index.php [PT,E=PATH_INFO:$1]
  RewriteBase /nextcloud
  <IfModule mod_env.c>
    SetEnv front_controller_active true
    <IfModule mod_dir.c>
      DirectorySlash off
    </IfModule>
  </IfModule>
</IfModule>

Also, just let me highlight and important part of an important file:

bash# grep RewriteBase /etc/nextcloud/config.php
  'htaccess.RewriteBase' => '/nextcloud',

So I think my setup is correct.