How to enable or use .htaccess on Apache Web Servers in Windows:

1. Using a text editor, open the httpd.conf file. In XAMPP, this file is found in the \apache\conf directory
2. Locate the following line of code:
   

   #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

3. Remove the # from the line as seen below to enable the module:
   

   LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

4. Save the httpd.conf file and Restart your server
5. Restart your Apache Server

If all goes well, you should now be able to use .htaccess files.