I was trying to set up a directory index [1] via a named vhost under Apache today. Typically all you need to do for this scenario is something like this in an apache conf file.
ServerName files.gfxmuse.org
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/files
Options +Indexes
Then restart apache and make sure the server name resolves somehow (DNS or /etc/hosts) and you're good to go.
But with Apache 2.4 something changed. This doesn't work. You get the nice welcome page that says the web server [2] is running but you don't get the directory index. I found a solution online that hid the solution behind a requirement to “like” the answer but it became very clear what the problem was: the welcome.conf configuration file overrides my directory index.
In welcome.conf you find this bit of code.
Options -Indexes
ErrorDocument 403 /.noindex.html
That Options -Index line is the problem. The easiest solution, in this case where all I want is a web server that shows a directly listing, is to comment out that whole block of code. Restarting the web server and accessing my file server works as expected now.
I had this problem on fedora [3] 21. I've seen others have it with ubuntu [4]. So the source of welcome.conf content may be the apache project itself. In other words, this solution may be applicable to any distribution using Apache 2.4 or later.