By default XAMPP and similar Apache Web Servers that can be run from Windows do not have mod_rewrite enabled. This causes Apache to ignore an .htaccess file. In the following simple solution, I show you how to enable mod_rewrite to enable the use of .htaccess on Apache servers in Windows like XAMPP. Moreover, this allows you to create nice permalinks for software like WordPress.

But actually i used this information for showing htaccess in zend framework.

Here there are the step :

1. Using a text editor, open the httpd.conf file. In XAMPP, this file is found in the \apache\conf directory
2. Locate the following line of code:
   

   #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

3. Remove the # from the line as seen below to enable the module:
   

   LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

4. Save the httpd.conf file and Restart your server
5. Restart your Apache Server

Afterall, you should now be able to use .htaccess files.
Happy programming..

Source :www.lancelhoff.com