htaccess for a WMV file

[grantus]

This is my htaccess code that I've been using, and it prevents people from hotlinking my WMV files, but I can't view the WMV file on my site! I have a page that has a WMV file embedded in it, yet it won't play when I use this htaccess:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mysite.com(/)?.*/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mysite.com(/)?.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|bmp|wmv)$ - [F]

Can anyone help me out here? I want the WMV files to play on my site like normal, but not allow anyone to hotlink the WMV files.

Thanks.

[Mittineague]

The conditions are
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mysite.com(/)?.*/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mysite.com(/)?.*$ [NC]
(optional in square brackets)
Not http://[www.]mysite.com[/]anything.anything - case insensitive
and
Not http://[www.]mysite.com[/]anything - case insensitive
These are essentially the same because . is an anything
(anything.anything is anything)
RewriteRule .*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|bmp|wmv)$ - [F]
forbid any request ending in gif, jpg, jpeg, bmp or wmv

I am not the best for regex, but the rewrite conditions could be replaced with something like
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !mysite\.com [NC]

[grantus]

Hmm I tried that, still doesn't work. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Mittineague]

Forgive me for asking the obvious. Did the pages play the WMV files OK before the lines were added to the htaccess file?

[grantus]

You mean before I put WMV in the htaccess with [F]? Yeah it played fine. As soon as I put it in, it stops playing all together.

[Mittineague]

I found an example online similar to your first post, except with the empty referrer and without the "minus sign" before the "forbidden".

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mysite.com(/)?.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(gif|jpe?g|bmp|wmv)$ [F,NC]

[grantus]

Nope, that didn't work either. It lets everything through. So basically the code in my first post blocks everything, but also blocks the wmv from playing on my site (images load okay). I'm guessing that the reason why the wmv file is being blocked has something to do with HTTP_REFERER?

[Mittineague]

It could be that somehow the "player" is considered the referrer.
I found another example with a minus sign.

Options All
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mydomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ - [F]

But more importantly, I've also found an example that uses request uri

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?phpground\.net [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \.(mpg|mpeg|avi|wmv|mov|asf|zip)
RewriteRule .* - [F]

Maybe the URI syntax will work?
(gotta love trial and error huh? persistance eventually pays off )

[grantus]

Not working either. I was reading somewhere that it's because the media players aren't sending a referer. That's probably it because I've tried pretty much everything! I've tried htaccess code generators too, nothing. Images no problem, just not the wmv files.

If you have any other suggestions that would be great, you've helped a bunch already, thanks!

[Mittineague]

The line

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$

should include players that don't send a referrer value. I think they must send one, but what it is isn't common knowledge. Maybe it's possible to write a script to get it? It might take some real "hacking around" - Set the server to parse wmv files with PHP, then name the script findPlayerReferer.wmv - for example. Or maybe another way? hmmmm.

[extras]

Error log, access log may give you guys some indications.

Also, use a CGI that shows all env variables to see the HTTP_REFERER sent by the palyer.

On unix, it will do. (Set permission to 755).

#!/bin/sh
echo
date >>log.txt
printenv|sort >>log.txt
tail -50 log.txt

Name it as set.cgi or anything with CGI, make sure it works by accessing it with a browser,
and then use a rule like this:
RewriteRule \.wnv$ set.cgi [L]

Then see the log.txt
You may find a hint.