PHP_AUTH_USER & .htaccess

Hello, I've got a really strange problem, and hope this is the right list to post to. I got a website with a login, which uses a .htaccess file for autentication. That part works like a charm. But when i want to read the loggin details with PHP, the variable $_SERVER['|PHP_AUTH_USER'] isn't set (in the directory where i logged into) when i go a directory back, and view a phpinfo() there i see |$_SERVER['|PHP_AUTH_USER']|| is set, so i do a phpinfo() in the directory with the .htaccess and it is gone. Had anyone ever had experience with this, because i can't find a solution. - Mike|