404 error when using rewrite engine

[eluser]PowerCode[/eluser]
I'm assuming that, as you've written, you have your CI application inside a folder named projects.

This one works fine for me, should do the same even with you.

Code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /projects
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-s
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]

You don't need to explicitly specify file names to exclude from rewriting. The URL will not be re-written if the requested folder/file already exists on the system