Tip to enable it on xampp:
To enable mod_rewrite in xampp first go to the directory of installation <xampp-directory>\apache\conf and edit httpd.conf. Find the line which contains
#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
uncomment this(should be):
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
Also find AllowOverride None
Should be:
AllowOverride All
Then restart your server.