Enabling mod_rewrite in Apache:

$ sudo cp /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/

and restart Apache. This also may need editing /etc/apache2/sites-available/default to AllowOverride all:

<virtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
 
        DocumentRoot /var/www
        <directory />
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride all