# Failed authorization procedure (acme-challenge/ not created)

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150>\
**Category:** Server\
**Created:** [September 23, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150 "2016-09-23T02:51:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tjff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@tjff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/tjff)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150/1 "2016-09-23T02:51:52Z")

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I installed certbot-auto on Debian 7.11, and it seemed to install and update everything fine as far as I could tell. I then ran:

`./certbot-auto certonly --webroot -w /path/to/www.mydomain.com -d www.mydomain.com`

It took forever, and then I got the following error:

```
Failed authorization procedure. www.mydomain.com (http-01): urn:acme:error:unauthorized :: The client lacks sufficient authorization :: Invalid response from http://www.mydomain.com/.well-known/acme-challenge/4Oh6oiNAAEw7iSwbKoFC5OevQcAGszEL11vdSmEjHg0: "<html>
<head><title>404 Not Found</title></head>
<body bgcolor="white">
<center><h1>404 Not Found</h1></center>
<hr><center>"

```

When I looked in my webroot, I saw a `.well-known` directory, but I did not see anything inside with `ls -la`. I tried running the same command above using `sudo`, which still got the same error. I also tried using the graphical installer, with the same result. The `.well-known` directory did not exist before I ran the script, so apparently it was able to create it but not put anything else inside? I’m confused. The `.well-known` directory is still empty, hence the 404 above.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/pfg/32/1924_2.png) [@pfg](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/pfg)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150/2 "2016-09-23T05:10:33Z")

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`certbot` deletes the `acme-challenge` subdirectory after the challenge passes or fails.

Try creating the subdirectory manually, put a file in there and check if your browser is able to request that file successfully. A common issue is that `.htaccess` rules or similar are interfering with the request and preventing the file from being served. Your web server logs might have more details.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tjff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@tjff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/tjff)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150/3 "2016-09-24T03:40:06Z")

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Thank you! I got sidetracked, not realizing that the files got cleaned up. You were right; I had a rule to hide all directories starting with a period. Once I added an override for .well-known/ it all worked as expected. Thanks for the help!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/failed-authorization-procedure-acme-challenge-not-created/20150/4 "2016-10-24T03:40:28Z")

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