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# Using www and non-www domains with an SSL certificate

> You can setup your web site to use SSL even if visitors do not specify the www subdomain in their browsers. Learn how in this easy step-by-step article.

This article demonstrates how to configure your web site to use SSL even if visitors do not specify the *www* subdomain. This article applies to Linux servers using Apache or Apache compatible web servers. For Windows servers see [this article](/docs/redirecting-users-to-ssl-connections-in-plesk).

<Note>
  This article assumes that you already have a valid, functioning SSL certificate on your web site.
</Note>

## Using www and non-www domains with an SSL certificate

Many third-party SSL certificates are only valid for one specific domain. For this reason, web site owners often set up an SSL certificate for the www subdomain (for example, *[www.example.com](http://www.example.com)* ). However, this means that visitors to the site may receive a security warning if they go to *example.com* without the www prefix.

Clearly, you want visitors to be able to use an SSL connection whether they visit *example.com* or *[www.example.com](http://www.example.com)*. To enable this functionality, you can use Apache rewrite rules in a custom *.htaccess* file.

The following lines demonstrate how to redirect visitors who enter a domain name without the www prefix to a secure connection. With these settings enabled on your web site, visitors who go to *example.com* or *[www.example.com](http://www.example.com)* (where*example.com* represents your domain) both obtain an SSL connection:

```
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}!^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
```

## Related articles

* [Using .htaccess files](/docs/using-htaccess-files)

* [Redirecting users to SSL connections in Plesk](/docs/redirecting-users-to-ssl-connections-in-plesk)