Codeigniter App with Symlink -Remove index.php from URL - codeigniter

Question

I went through many resources here and elsewhere in net but couldnt seem to make it work.
I have codeigniter app in home directory. Sym link craeated in /var/www/html.
The below link works fine.
http://mydomain.net/dms/index.php/welcome
However without index.php ,I want the following link to work
http://mydomain.net/dms/welcome
Code igniter 2.1.1 directory:
dms
application
system
index.php
.htaccess
Config.php
$config['index_page'] = "";
$config['uri_protocol'] = "AUTO";
routes.php
$route['default_controller'] = "welcome";
Config file httpd.conf
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
Alias /dms/ "/var/www/html/dms/"
<Directory "/var/www/html/dms">
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
sym links
ls -l /var/www/html
dms -> /home/user1/dms
.htaccess file :
RewriteEngine On
# enable symbolic links
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
RewriteRule ^(.+) index.php [L]
I tried keeping .htaccess file in CI folder folder /home/user1/dms and later in /var/www/html
Both didnt work.
I am getting error (in http error log)
"File does not exist: /var/www/html/dms/welcome"
Please help.

Answer 1

I use this .htaccess and it works for me, try:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
# Make sure directory listing is disabled
Options +FollowSymLinks -Indexes
# disable the Apache MultiViews directive if it is enabled on the server. It plays havoc with URL rewriting
Options -MultiViews
RewriteEngine on
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]
</IfModule>
<IfModule !mod_php5.c>
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]
</IfModule>
</IfModule>