How to fix Laravel showing the directory structure on Apache

Prevent Laravel from showing the directory structure and instead show your application when using Apache.

This is done by creating and assigning a new virtual host, to incorporate the /public directory.

Once you have downloaded/composer installed the Laravel project or app into /var/www/html

Navigate to the Apache virtual hosts configuration directory

cd /etc/apache2/sites-available

Create a new Apache virtual hosts file

sudo nano the_project.conf

Add (and edit) in the following and save it

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName domain.com
   ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/public

   <Directory /var/www/html>
       AllowOverride All
   </Directory>
   ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
   CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Disable the default virtual hosts configuration file for Apache2

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Now enable the one created above with

sudo a2ensite the_project

Enable the Apache rewrite module

sudo a2enmod rewrite

Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart apache2

When you navigate to the domain or IP address instead of the Laravel files and folders showing it will be the app homepage.