Apache 2, quickly protect directory with password

• Create file with encrypted password

htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/.passwd yourname

• Create file ".htaccess" in folder to protected (subfolders are protected too)

AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.passwd
AuthType Basic
AuthName "protecting work in progress"
Require valid-user

• add further users without -c

htpasswd  /etc/apache2/.passwd othername

• restrict access to the webserver (research the correct values for your system)

cd /etc/apache2
chown www-data:www-data .passwd
chmod 600 .passwd

cd /<path-to-your-.htaccess-file>
chown www-data:www-data .htaccess
chmod 600 .htaccess