#By default all files under /var/www ignore the .htaccess file
#To solve this, change /etc/apache2/site-available/default
#sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

#You see something like this
<Directory /var/www/>
	Option Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
	AllowOverride None
	Order allow, deny
	allow from all
</Directory>

#Change to this:

<Directory /var/www/>
	Option Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
	AllowOverride All
	Order allow, deny
	allow from all
</Directory>

Making sure .htaccess files work

Bash