diff --git a/admin/.htaccess b/admin/.htaccess
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc2c068
--- /dev/null
+++ b/admin/.htaccess
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<IfModule LiteSpeed>
+CacheEnable off
+</IfModule>
+Header always set Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate"
+Header always set Pragma "no-cache"
diff --git a/admin/index.php b/admin/index.php
index 19d592c..2208c1d 100644
--- a/admin/index.php
+++ b/admin/index.php
@@ -1,23 +1,52 @@
 <?php
 require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/db.php';
-ini_set('session.save_path', '/home/parkerslingshotrentals.com/sessions');
-ini_set('session.cookie_httponly', 1);
-ini_set('session.cookie_samesite', 'Lax');
-session_start();
+
+// ── Cookie-based auth (no PHP sessions — avoids server caching/permission issues) ──
+define('AUTH_COOKIE',  'parker_auth');
+define('AUTH_SECRET',  hash('sha256', ADMIN_PASS . ADMIN_SESSION_KEY)); // not reversible
+
+function _authToken(): string {
+    $t = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
+    $e = time() + 86400; // 24h
+    $s = hash_hmac('sha256', "$t|$e", AUTH_SECRET);
+    return "$t.$e.$s";
+}
+function _verifyAuth(): bool {
+    $c = $_COOKIE[AUTH_COOKIE] ?? '';
+    $p = explode('.', $c, 3);
+    if (count($p) !== 3) return false;
+    [$t, $e, $s] = $p;
+    if ((int)$e < time()) return false;
+    return hash_equals(hash_hmac('sha256', "$t|$e", AUTH_SECRET), $s);
+}
+function _setAuth(): void {
+    $secure = !empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] !== 'off';
+    setcookie(AUTH_COOKIE, _authToken(), [
+        'expires'  => time() + 86400,
+        'path'     => '/admin/',
+        'secure'   => $secure,
+        'httponly' => true,
+        'samesite' => 'Lax',
+    ]);
+}
+function _clearAuth(): void {
+    $secure = !empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] !== 'off';
+    setcookie(AUTH_COOKIE, '', ['expires' => time()-3600, 'path' => '/admin/', 'secure' => $secure, 'httponly' => true, 'samesite' => 'Lax']);
+}
 
 $isAjax = !empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH']) || (($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] ?? '') === 'application/json');
 
 // ── Auth ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-if ($_POST['action'] ?? '' === 'login') {
+if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST' && ($_POST['action'] ?? '') === 'login') {
     if ($_POST['username'] === ADMIN_USER && password_verify($_POST['password'] ?? '', ADMIN_PASS)) {
-        $_SESSION[ADMIN_SESSION_KEY] = true;
+        _setAuth();
     }
     header('Location: /admin/'); exit;
 }
-if ($_GET['action'] ?? '' === 'logout') {
-    session_destroy(); header('Location: /admin/'); exit;
+if (($_GET['action'] ?? '') === 'logout') {
+    _clearAuth(); header('Location: /admin/'); exit;
 }
-$authed = !empty($_SESSION[ADMIN_SESSION_KEY]);
+$authed = _verifyAuth();
 
 // ── AJAX handlers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 if ($isAjax && !$authed) {