apache - ExpressionEngine 2 all sub pages return "File not found" -

i working on expressionengine 2 site , i'm having problems, believe, rewrite rules. i'm able access main site without issues, moment try access sub-pages i'm met plain white screen , simple phrase "file not found." (the page source text.)

what's weird work on friends' computers leads me believe it's problem server configuration. i'm running vagrant box built puphpet using ubuntu 14.04.5, , apache2. below .htaccess rewrite rules.

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>  # enable rewrite engine # ------------------------------ rewriteengine on rewritebase /  # redirect index.php requests # ------------------------------ rewritecond %{the_request} ^[^/]*/index\.php [nc] rewritecond %{the_request} ^get rewriterule ^index\.php(.+) $1 [r=301,l]  # standard expressionengine rewrite # ------------------------------ rewritecond $1 !\.(css|js|gif|jpe?g|png) [nc] rewritecond %{request_filename} !-f rewritecond %{request_filename} !-d rewriterule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [l]  </ifmodule> 

now, if change last line rewriterule ^.(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [l] works (adding ? after .php). however, said works on friends' computers , i'd fix issue @ root it's symptomatic of ee2 sites work on.

what need try fixing this? researched if $_server['path_info'] works , does. i'm @ loss.

thank or light can shed on matter.

p.s. saw in expressionengine 2 docs adding ? way around when host requires forcing query strings. how disable that?