# Status 401 Behaviour Issue **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [March 19, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726 "2011-03-19T20:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dubstep)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726/1 "2011-03-19T20:04:19Z")
Hi all. I noticed a certain behaviour of the 401 status code response I will like to change. Firstly, in Apache, there is an html page for 401 that is defined in the error\_page equivalent. When the request for a protected directory comes in, the user gets the form for the authentication and only if the authentication fails is that html page served. With Nginx however, if I define an html page error\_page for 401, this gets served every time a user requests the protected directory and there is no opportunity to fill in the authentication details. Is it possible to set it up such that it behaves like Apache does? I.E. only return the html error\_page if the authentication fails? This seems like a better implementation to me. Running 0.8.54 Thanks Posted at Nginx Forum: > **[Status 401 Behaviour Issue](https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184007#msg-184007)** > > Hi all. I noticed a certain behaviour of the 401 status code response I will like to change. Firstly, in Apache, there is an html page for 401 that is defined in the error\_page equivalent. When the request for a protected directory comes in, the user... ---
**Author:** ![Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dayo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726/2 "2011-03-19T20:32:29Z")
Do u mean a 403? On 3/19/11, Dayo [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > With Nginx however, if I define an html page error\_page for 401, this gets > > Posted at Nginx Forum: > [http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184007#msg-184007](http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184007#msg-184007) > > * * * > > nginx mailing list > [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > [mailman.nginx.org archive](http://nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx) – Sent from my mobile device Payam Tarverdyan Chychi Network Security Specialist / Network Engineer ---
**Author:** ![Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dayo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726/3 "2011-03-19T20:58:51Z")
> Do u mean a 403? > No, 401 as written. Posted at Nginx Forum: [http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184015#msg-184015](http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184015#msg-184015) ---
**Author:** ![Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dayo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726/4 "2011-03-20T03:09:03Z")
On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 03:03:11PM -0400, Dayo wrote: Hi there, > I noticed a certain behaviour of the 401 status code response I will like to > change. > With Nginx however, if I define an html page error\_page for 401, this gets > served every time a user requests the protected directory and there is no > opportunity to fill in the authentication details. That sounds odd to me. What _should_ happen is the web server returns http 401 with some body content; the web browser chooses whether to display that body content, or to request authentication credentials, as it sees fit. What is your error\_page config? Quick testing here shows that error\_page 401 /401.html; returns the right content with the right status, as I would expect. error\_page 401 = /401.html; returns the right content, but with a http 200 status, which sounds like it matches what you are seeing. As per [GitHub - nginxinc/nginx-wiki: ARCHIVED -- Source for the now archived NGINX Wiki section of https://www.nginx.com · GitHub](http://wiki.nginx.org/HttpCoreModule#error_page), adding the “=” means “handle this (sub)request, and change the return status to whatever it generates instead of what we started with”. For 401, you probably don’t want that. > Is it possible to set it up such that it behaves like Apache does? I.E. only > return the html error\_page if the authentication fails? This seems like a better > implementation to me. Leave out the “=”? > Running 0.8.54 I tested with 0.9.4, but I don’t see any obvious code fixes that would have changed this. All the best, ## f Francis D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Dayo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dayo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-401-behaviour-issue/204726/5 "2011-03-20T05:22:51Z")
> status, which sounds like > > code fixes that would > have changed this. Hi. Thanks for that. Yep, the second config was what was causing it for me. It didn’t “matter” with the other codes as there is no further processing to be done and users saw the right pages for the circumstances. Does also explain why my caching config for error pages did no quite work properly. In summary, after rereading the docs properly 1. “error\_page code url” means return “code” and show “url” 2. “error\_page code =anycode url” means return “anycode” and show “url” 3. “error\_page code = url” means redirect to this url whenever “code” is encountered. A “200 OK” response is returned if “url” is found. Thanks again for helping me get to understand this better Posted at Nginx Forum: [http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184098#msg-184098](http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,184007,184098#msg-184098)