mod_rewrite installed by default on Apache2 installation,
Check verify the existence of /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load.
#cat /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load
LoadModule rewrite_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_rewrite.so
Enable and load mod_rewrite
#a2enmod rewrite
The above command will create a symbolic link in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled.
#ls -al /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/rewrite.load
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 Dec 7 05:26 /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/rewrite.load -> ../mods-available/rewrite.load
Then open and edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/default configuration. Replace every occurrence of “AllowOverride None” with “AllowOverride all”.
#vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
Finally, restart Apache2.
#service apache2 restart
Disable mod_rewrite Module in Apache2
To disable module use a2dismod command
#a2dismod rewrite
Finally, restart Apache2.
#service apache2 restart