Apache Authorisation and Wordfence (includes solution)

Hello
I use a .htaccess file in my wp-admin directory to help restrict access to this area

Wordfence uses an admin-ajax.php file that is stored in wp-admin to track human visitors to the site.

The combination was popping up an authorisation dialog for casual visitors on every page … here is a suggested solution

AuthType Basic
AuthName .restricted.
# (Following line is/should be optional)
AuthBasicProvider file
AuthUserFile /path/to/authorised/user/file
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Require valid-user

# Begin Wordfence exception <<-- -
<Files admin-ajax.php>
        allow from all
</Files>
# End Wordfence exception <<-- -

Satisfy any

HTH

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/