How do I manually create a file with a . (dot) prefix in Windows? For example, .htaccess

I want to create a .htaccess file manually and discovered it seems impossible through the Windows UI. I get a “you must type a filename.” message. There has to be a way to create files with . as a prefix in Windows.

Can this be done manually?

Windows 7, 8 & 10

This is dead easy since Windows 7. In File Explorer, right click anywhere and create a new file. Type the new filename as .something. (notice the appended period) and press enter twice, job done.

So instead of being prompted with

You must type a file name.

You will instead be prompted with

If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable.

Note: If you’re having issues then please ensure you have “file name extensions” visible, you can activate this under the “View” menu in File Explorer. Also, this method works for folders too.