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

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

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.

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. :)

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