How to Enable .htaccess and Verify if .htaccess file is running

Step 1 : changes in the .htaccess should take effects if you change .conf  file of apache like below

<Directory ..>
    ...
    AllowOverride None
    ...
</Directory>

Should be changed to

<Directory ..>
    ...
    AllowOverride All
    ...
</Directory>

Step 2 : 
check for below line in  .conf  file of apache
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

If it is commented(#), uncomment (remove # )

Now restart apache server

Step 2 :

Enter some junk value into your .htaccess restart apache server and visit your URL.
If .htaccess is working, you should get a
500 Internal Server Error