How to Change the Document Root Using .htaccess By default your website is loaded from the public_html folder of your account.The public_html directory is also called web root folder or document root folder.If you’ve created a test website under a sub-folder and you want it to be displayed when you type your domain name, add the following lines to the .htaccess file in the public_html folder: RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain-name.com$ [NC,OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain-name.com$ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !folder/ RewriteRule (.*) /folder/$1 [L] In the above lines you should replace the following 2 strings: domain-name.com – Type your own domain namefolder – Type the name of the sub-folder which has the test/development website