Title: Hotlink Protection Author: zuda Published: June 8, 2009 Last modified: August 16, 2018 --- Search plugins This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection. svg) # Hotlink Protection By [zuda](https://profiles.wordpress.org/zuda/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection.zip) * [Details](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/#description) * [Reviews](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/#reviews) * [Installation](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/#installation) * [Development](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/) ## Description This plugin is adopted and being maintained. Caution: This plugin may not work on all setups and is best to be considered beta. It has been updated to work on more setups than it previously worked on. The WordPress Automatic Image Hotlink Protection plugin is a single step script designed to stop others from stealing your images. Simply add an .htaccess file to your root folder thereby stopping external web servers from linking directly to your files. The script automatically tests to to see if your web server is compatible with the script before adding the .htaccess file and setting the appropriate permissions. If deactivated, the script removes the code from your .htaccess file. * Please Note : This plugin works only with the primary domain, and the www. addition not subdomains, for example mycow.example.com would not work, but example.com should work. ## Installation To install the plugin, please upload the wordpress hotlink protection folder to your plugins folder and active the plugin. Once you’ve activated the plugin, visit the admin page at Settings > Hotlink Protection to activate the plugin. ## FAQ Installation Instructions To install the plugin, please upload the wordpress hotlink protection folder to your plugins folder and active the plugin. Once you’ve activated the plugin, visit the admin page at Settings > Hotlink Protection to activate the plugin. How do I remove this plugin? In most cases, the plugin should take care of itself when deactivating but if for any reason your server has problems with the hotlink removal, open your .htaccess file via an FTP client and remove the lines between # Hotlink Protection START # and # Hotlink Protection END # to remove the plugin manually. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ba695878e09db2ef3ca500ece1e26a906ac6f7c1b6de71bd643bae3b875c6057? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Do not use!!!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/do-not-use-38/)󠁿 [YaronRaz](https://profiles.wordpress.org/yaronraz/) March 1, 2019 This might suspend all access to your site, and can only be corrected by editing the .htaccess file directly, through FTP or other means. Be warned. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/699607e497375029d6306daf0c49519465d100d7dec609aa82ad4a21b18ab034? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[very very bad](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-very-bad-6/)󠁿 [christian-45](https://profiles.wordpress.org/christian-45/) February 6, 2019 after installing white screen and a lot of problems. worst plugin ever seen ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3c0bb7bda28958c354ef904b32f5b56d14cf5c191431cfe59a581f2c953d0942? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Broke my multi-install the second I enabled it](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/broke-my-multi-install-the-second-i-enabled-it/)󠁿 [Dean](https://profiles.wordpress.org/deane1/) October 15, 2018 Was hoping to allow facebook and other social platforms to use my images with this plugin but as I enabled the plugin on my site, it re-wrote my htaccess file crippling my sites. I immediately got a 500 server error and it took my other site down as well that’s on the same multi-site install even though I enabled the plugin on only one of the two sites. Do yourself a favor before you try this on your install and backup your htaccess file and be logged into your ftp so you can quickly swap back to your backup htaccess file if this does not work on your install. The developer definitely still needs to do some work on this. [ Read all 5 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “Hotlink Protection” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ zuda ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/zuda/) * [ horshipsrectors ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/horshipsrectors/) “Hotlink Protection” has been translated into 2 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “Hotlink Protection” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 3.3.3 * palindrome version numbers, because that’s cooler than bow ties. * updated the script from the previous owner to try and avoid sites getting the white screen of death. * is now being maintaned as it has been adopted by planetzuda.com. #### 2.0.0 * Removed admin control panel * Tested with WordPress 3.2 * Optimized code for WordPress 3.2 * Removed excess code #### 1.1.0 * Tested for WordPress 3.1 * Added new admin screens #### 1.0.0 * rewrote plugin for use with 3.x websites * moved .htaccess file from uploads folder to root * added file_exists checks * tested for clean removal #### 0.1.6 * removed update function ## Meta * Version **3.3.3** * Last updated **8 वर्षाः ago** * Active installations **300+** * WordPress version ** 4.0.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **4.9.29** * Languages * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/), and [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection) * Tags * [hotlink](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/hotlink/)[hotlinking](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/hotlinking/) [image protection](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/image-protection/)[protect image](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/protect-image/) * [Advanced View](https://sa.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/advanced/) ## Ratings 1 out of 5 stars. * [ 0 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 5 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ zuda ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/zuda/) * [ horshipsrectors ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/horshipsrectors/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-automatic-image-hotlink-protection/)