Home links point to .../catalog/ but don't display .../catalog/index.php

[double-happiness]

My home links all point to .../catalog/ but don't display .../catalog/index.php

All I get from home links is an error:

Directory has no index file.
Browsing this site or directory without an index file is prohibited.

If you are the site's webmaster, you can remedy this problem by creating a default HTML page with one of the following names:

index.html
index.htm
default.htm
Default.htm
home.html
Home.chtml

NOTE: Filenames are case sensitive, i.e., Home.html is not the same as home.html

.../catalog/index.php displays fine when typed in, though.

Any suggestions how to fix this please?

Edit: sorry ignore this post, I see I got an answer to the same question elsewhere - hosting issue it seems

[double-happiness]

I've tried to get round this by edit my .htaccess file with

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm

...but no joy

Do I need to copy the .htaccess file into /catalog/, or is one only supposed to have the file in the website's root directory? Thanks for any help.

[joejoejoe]

You can have the .htaccess file in any or multiple folders. Wherever you put it/them, you control access to that folder and any subfolders. If you want to have /catalog default to /catalog/index.php then yes, you should put a copy in there.

Edit: Please change anyplace I put "should" to "could" and add "always backup first", just so I don't get yelled at for giving advice that might crash your site, your host, and the entire internet. :)

[double-happiness]

Ah, thanks a lot, that's fixed it!