jwrobel on "[Plugin: WooCommerce] Broken Instant Download Links"

I'm new to woocommerce and setting up shop selling knitting pattes as instant downloads. When I test the download links sent at purchase, however, the pages are not found. Error 404. I think this has something to do with the .htaccess file, but I don't think that is something I want to disable. I've been through my settings and documentation, but I'm clearly missing something. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Jess
jwrobel.com

https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/

Edit the product and try to visit the URL of your file. Can you see it? It should either show the file or give you a 403 access denied error if protected.

When I visit the urls generated in the products (which are the same as what is being sent at purchase) I'm told that the page can't be found and it is an error 404. I can log in to my server and see that the files are where they are supposed to be, but I can't access them via the browser.

This is the link to one of my rug hooking pattes: http://www.jwrobel.com/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2016/05/Scotty-Dog-Rug-Hooking-Patte.pdf

Thank you!

Must be wrong... http://www.jwrobel.com/wp-content/uploads/

Hi Mike,

I've sent a note to Dreamhost to look at the directory, but I can link to all the jpgs in the file. Example: http://www.jwrobel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/asjearflap.jpg It is only the pdfs that seem to not be functioning. Dreamhost told me this this moing:

"Thanks for contacting DreamHost. The woocommerce uploads directory is not
meant to be accessible via a direct URL as they are protected files. This
is done via an .htaccess file rule.

jwrobel.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads# cat .htaccess
deny from all

When someone purchases a download a special URL is generated and they can
access the file via this special URL. You can disable this by disabling
the .htaccess file in the woocommerce_uploads directory."

Where I get further confused is that the URL generated with the purchase of the download is the same as the link from my product edit view.

woocommerce_uploads is indeed inaccessible, but I cannot even see it so I don't think its readable by PHP either right now...

Dreamhost had me disable the .htaccess file. Everything seems to be working now, but I'm not sure if there will be any unforeseen circumstances. Any that you can think of?

Thanks so much!

Files may be accessible directly, but thats hit. Make sure you get directory listing disabled so people cannot browse around.

Is the link generated at checkout supposed to be different than what is entered in the URL field when I'm editing the product? If so, have I missed something in my settings....?

Yes - it hides the real URL.