How to Install WordPress in cPanel

WordPress® is a web-based content management system that allows users to easily create a website or blog.

This document describes how to install WordPress on your cPanel account.

Install WordPress

Install the WordPress cPAddon

In order to allow users to install WordPress as a cPAddon, hosting providers must enable the WordPress cPAddon via WHM’s Install cPAddons Site Software interface (WHM >> Home >> cPanel >> Install cPAddons Site Software).

To enable WordPress installations as a cPAddon, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to WHM’s Install cPAddons Site Software interface (WHM >> Home >> cPanel >> Install cPAddons Site Software).

2. Select the WordPress row’s checkbox.

3. Click Update cPAddon Config.

Enable Moderation

To moderate installations for the WordPress cPAddon, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to WHM’s Manage cPAddons Manage cPAddons Site Software interface (WHM >> Home >> cPanel >> Manage cPAddons Site Software).

2. Select the cPanel::Blogs::WordPress checkbox.

3. Click Update Moderation.

Important:

For the WordPress (legacy) cPAddon, you must not modify or delete the default WordPress plugins and themes that the cPanel installation provides. WordPress will not update properly if you modify any of these files.

cPanel User installs WordPress as Site Software

Install WordPress in cPanel

If available, users can easily install WordPress as a cPAddon with cPanel’s Site Software interface (cPanel >> Home >> Software >> Site Software).

To install WordPress as a cPAddon, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to cPanel’s Site Software interface (cPanel >> Home >> Software >> Site Software).

2. To receive a notice via email when the hosting provider installs WordPress, click here after the You currently are set to receive a notice when updates for your installs are available text.

3. Click WordPress.

4. Enter the requested information.  To install WordPress directly into a domain’s document root, leave the installation URL’s path blank. This may overwrite any files already in the document root.

5. Click Install. If your hosting provider moderates requests for WordPress installation, click Submit Moderation Request. Enter a note for your hosting provider, and click Submit Request.

6. When the WordPress installation finishes, use your web browser to view the location that you entered in Step 4. For example, if you installed WordPress in the http://example.com/wordpress/ directory, browse to the http://example.com/wordpress/ URL.

Important:

For the WordPress (legacy) cPAddon, you must not modify or delete the default WordPress plugins and themes that the cPanel installation provides. WordPress will not update properly if you modify any of these files. The new RPM-based WordPress cPAddon supports changes to WordPress plugins and themes.

If WordPress is not available as a cPAddon, users can add it, or they can install WordPress directly themselves. For more information, read the User installs WordPress Manually section below.

User installs WordPress Manually

Install WordPress Manually

If your hosting provider does not offer WordPress as a cPAddon, you can manually download WordPress from the WordPress website and install it on your site.

WordPress installation issues

Document root issues

Note:

In the following examples, the following statements are true:

– example.com represents the domain name.
– example represents the account name.
– subdomain represents a subdomain’s directory.
– addon.com represents an addon domain name.

Due to potential conflicts in the .htaccess file, do not configure multiple WordPress installations to share a single document root. If you experience difficulties with WordPress, check the following requirements:

Each cPanel account user can host only one installation of WordPress in the document root directory.

– The following are examples of document root directories:
– /home/example/public_html/
– /home/example/public_html/addon.com
– /home/example/public_html/subdomain
– Each directory may only contain one WordPress installation.
– If the subdirectories are not a document root, cPanel account users can install additional WordPress installations in subdirectories under the domain’s home/example/public_html directory.
– The following examples demonstrate installations that use the wordpress subdirectory:

Under the document root for the main domain: /home/example/public_html/wordpress.

Under a subdomain: /home/example/public_html/subdomain/wordpress

Under an addon domain: /home/example/public_html/addon.com/wordpress

Database connection errors

If WordPress returns a database connection error, ensure that the database’s name and password in the wp-config.php file are identical to the database credentials in your account.

For a document root installation, the wp-config file exists in the /home/username/public_html directory, where username represents the cPanel account name.

To change the database’s username or password, use cPanel’s MySQL Databases interface (cPanel >> Home >> Databases >> MySQL Databases).

Note:

If you are using the new RPM-based WordPress cPAddon, you can use cPanel’s WordPress Manager interface (cPanel >> Home >> Applications >> WordPress Manager) to update your WordPress database user’s password.

To test a username and password combination, run the following command (where db_user represents the database’s authorized username):

mysql -u db_user -p

After you enter the command, enter the user’s password. The system will respond with a success or failure message.