I almost forgot, the error message from the virtual host error log: [Fri Oct 19 15:56:23 2007] [error] [client 10.0.0.1] Options FollowSymLink s or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is for bidden: /usr/share/apache2/icons/blank.gif, referer: http://www.example.com/