# Problems installing Ghost in a subdirectory with Nginx (Getting 404)

**URL:** <https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656>\
**Category:** Installation\
**Created:** [October 13, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656 "2020-10-13T21:38:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/1 "2020-10-13T21:38:48Z")

</div>

I’m a beginner using a reverse proxy or managing technical infrastructure. I have my main app (react + nginx) on a server and I’m trying to install Ghost on a subfolder [TinyMentions Blog](https://tinymentions.io/blog) on the same server as my main app.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to successfully configure Nginx to properly serve my Ghost blog.  
When I visit the URL ttps://tinymentions.io/blog I get an error: “HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND”

I have searched this forum, Stack Overflow and all over Google, tried different approaches and unfortunately, I’m still not able to come up with a solution for this problem. Every time I tried a new approach, I restarted nginx with `sudo service nginx restart` but with no luck.

I would appreciate any help with this. If I’m not explaining myself correctly and/or need more information, please let me know.

**- What’s your URL?**  
My main app is on [https://tinymentions.io/](https://tinymentions.io/)

**- Ghost URL**

> **[TinyMentions Blog](https://tinymentions.io/blog/)**
>
> Thoughts, stories and ideas related to TinyMentions

**- What version of Ghost are you using?**  
Ghost-CLI version: 1.15.0  
Ghost version: 3.35.5

**- What configuration?**  
This is my NGINX config file:

```auto
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;

    server_name tinymentions.io www.tinymentions.io;

    client_max_body_size 4G;

    root /var/www/tiny-mentions/build;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ @proxy_to_app;
    }

    location /blog {
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Update &http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:2368;
    }

    location @proxy_to_app {
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
      proxy_connect_timeout 25000s;
      proxy_read_timeout 25000;

      if ($request_method = 'OPTIONS') {
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET, POST, OPTIONS';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'DNT,User-Agent,X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Range';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Max-Age' 1728000;
        add_header 'Content-Type' 'text/plain; charset=utf-8';
        add_header 'Content-Length' 0;
        return 204;
     }

     if ($request_method = 'POST') {
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET, POST, OPTIONS';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'DNT,User-Agent,X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Range';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Expose-Headers' 'Content-Length,Content-Range';
     }

     if ($request_method = 'GET') {
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET, POST, OPTIONS';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'DNT,User-Agent,X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Range';
        add_header 'Access-Control-Expose-Headers' 'Content-Length,Content-Range';
     }

      proxy_redirect off;
      proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
    }

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/tinymentions.io/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/tinymentions.io/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot

}

server {
    if ($host = www.tinymentions.io) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot

    if ($host = tinymentions.io) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot

    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name tinymentions.io www.tinymentions.io;

    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;

}

```

The following is my config.production.json file:

```auto
{
  "url": "http://tinymentions.io/blog",
  "server": {
    "port": 2368,
    "host": "127.0.0.1"
  },
  "database": {
    "client": "mysql",
    "connection": {
      "host": "localhost",
      "user": "ghost-917",
      "password": ",`^4d!iCBmI4f6Vqc~TR",
      "database": "ghost_prod"
    }
  },
  "mail": {
    "transport": "Direct"
  },
  "logging": {
    "transports": [
      "file",
      "stdout"
    ]
  },
  "process": "systemd",
  "paths": {
    "contentPath": "/var/www/ghost/content"
  }
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikaspotluri123](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/vikaspotluri123/32/24_2.png) [@vikaspotluri123](https://forum.ghost.org/u/vikaspotluri123)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 12:22am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/2 "2020-10-14T00:22:31Z")

</div>

If you’re using SSL, your Ghost URL must be configured to `https` - can you try updating that, restarting ghost and seeing if the problem persists?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ifkas](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/ifkas/32/9946_2.png) [@ifkas](https://forum.ghost.org/u/ifkas)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/3 "2020-10-14T05:45:06Z")

</div>

Hi there, some time ago I also tried to install Ghost on Nginx in a subdirectory but without success, this was my solution: [Installed ghost on nginx in subfolder and I got 403 error](https://forum.ghost.org/t/installed-ghost-on-nginx-in-subfolder-and-i-got-403-error/10889)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/4 "2020-10-19T23:33:37Z")

</div>

> [@vikaspotluri123](#):
>
> If you’re using SSL, your Ghost URL must be configured to `https` - can you try updating that, restarting ghost and seeing if the problem persists?

Hey Vikas, thanks for replying! I tried in the past to configure the Ghost URL to https, and it didn’t work. I tried again, just to be sure, and it still isn’t working unfortunately.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/5 "2020-10-19T23:35:16Z")

</div>

Hi Ivo, thanks for replying. Unfortunately, I want to avoid using a subdirectory at all costs. If I cannot set up Ghost using a subfolder, I prefer looking at an alternative rather than using a subdomain.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikaspotluri123](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/vikaspotluri123/32/24_2.png) [@vikaspotluri123](https://forum.ghost.org/u/vikaspotluri123)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/6 "2020-10-20T00:27:19Z")

</div>

It looks like you’re missing the `x-forwarded-proto` header (similar to how your app proxy has one)

Here’s the template used by Ghost CLI for reference

> <https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost-CLI/blob/6737d42baf072016e906025471649fbd59284f7a/extensions/nginx/templates/nginx-ssl.conf>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/8 "2020-10-20T00:55:21Z")

</div>

Hey Vikas! Thanks for your help! I tried adding the `x-forwarded-proto` header and restarted nginx with `sudo service nginx restart` and I’m still getting 404.

This is the code for location /blog in my NGINX config file:

```auto
location /blog {
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Update &http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    proxy_pass http://localhost:2368;
}

```

Do you know what I’m doing wrong?

Thanks again for the help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikaspotluri123](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/vikaspotluri123/32/24_2.png) [@vikaspotluri123](https://forum.ghost.org/u/vikaspotluri123)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/9 "2020-10-20T04:47:09Z")

</div>

Everything’s working for me 😕

The rich card below shows that web crawlers are able to visit the URL (linked to `https://tinymentions.io/blog/welcome/`)

[https://tinymentions.io/blog/welcome/](https://tinymentions.io/blog/welcome/)

p.s. `sudo nginx -s reload` is much safer than `sudo service nginx restart` since the former will not stop the server while the latter will.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/10 "2020-10-20T22:26:34Z")

</div>

Hey Vikas! Finally, I was able to fix this issue last night 🙌

It seems that nginx wasn’t restarting correctly so I had to stop nginx with the command `sudo systemctl stop nginx` and start it again using `sudo systemctl start nginx` to try different configurations and see if those finally worked.

The `location /blog` configuration on my NGINX config file that worked is the following:

```auto
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Update &http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    proxy_pass http://localhost:2368;
}

```

And the following is my config.production.json file that worked:

```auto
{
  "url": "https://tinymentions.io/blog",
  "server": {
    "port": 2368,
    "host": "127.0.0.1"
  },
  "database": {
    "client": "mysql",
    "connection": {
      "host": "localhost",
      "user": "EDITED",
      "password": "EDITED",
      "database": "EDITED"
    }
  },
  "mail": {
    "transport": "Direct"
  },
  "logging": {
    "transports": [
      "file",
      "stdout"
    ]
  },
  "process": "systemd",
  "paths": {
    "contentPath": "EDITED"
  }
}

```

Thanks for your help solving this! I really appreciate it!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/11 "2020-10-20T22:30:59Z")

</div>

By the way, is it possible to edit the original post? I want to remove some critical credentials but I think I am no longer able to edit it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikaspotluri123](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/vikaspotluri123/32/24_2.png) [@vikaspotluri123](https://forum.ghost.org/u/vikaspotluri123)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/12 "2020-10-20T23:04:21Z")

</div>

Once it’s out in the open, you should change the credentials 🙂 Discourse usually keeps track of changes so you could edit the original post, but the change would still be tracked

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feconroses](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/feconroses/32/9943_2.png) [@feconroses](https://forum.ghost.org/u/feconroses)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/problems-installing-ghost-in-a-subdirectory-with-nginx-getting-404/17656/13 "2020-10-21T00:55:00Z")

</div>

Make sense! Just changed the credentials 🙂 Thanks again for all the help!