How to Install WordPress

WordPress needs files and a database, which stores your posts, pages and settings. Use Option A if cPanel offers WordPress for your domain. If it doesn’t, Option B sets everything up by hand.

Option A: Use cPanel’s WordPress option

1. Log in to cPanel and click Websites in the sidebar. If you can’t log in, open a support ticket.
2. Click Manage next to your domain and choose WordPress under Website Builder. (Domain not listed yet? Click Add Website and choose WordPress when asked how you want to build.) If you see a WordPress installer icon instead, click it. If WordPress isn’t offered, use Option B or open a support ticket.
3. Follow the setup screens. If there’s a folder (installation path) box, delete anything in it, so the site opens at yourdomain.com.
4. For the administrator, choose a username other than admin, a strong password saved in a password manager (an app that stores passwords safely), and an email address you check often. WordPress sends password resets and error alerts there.
5. Start the installation and wait until it finishes. If you weren’t asked to choose a password, use Lost your password? on the WordPress login page.

Option B: Install WordPress yourself

If you can’t find Create Database or File Manager in cPanel, open a support ticket.

1. Create a database

1. In cPanel, click Databases in the sidebar, then Create Database. (If you see a Database Wizard icon instead, use it.)
2. Enter a short Database name, such as wp, then a username and strong password for the database user. cPanel may add your account name and an underscore to the front of both.
3. For privileges, click All Privileges, then finish.
4. Write down the full database name and username, and the password and host cPanel shows; it won’t show the password again.

2. Upload the WordPress files

1. On your computer, download the latest WordPress .zip file from wordpress.org/download. Don’t unzip it.
2. In cPanel, click Files in the sidebar and open the File Manager tab (see how to use File Manager).
3. Open your domain’s folder. For your main domain, this is public_html. For another domain, its Overview tab (Websites, then Manage) shows the website folder.
4. Click Upload and choose the zip file.
5. When the upload finishes, reload the file list.
6. Select the zip file and click Extract. In the box that opens, leave the folder as it is and confirm. This creates a folder named wordpress.
7. Open the wordpress folder and select every file and folder in it (hold Ctrl, or Cmd on a Mac, and click each one).
8. Click Move, enter your domain’s folder (for your main domain, /public_html) and confirm.
9. Check that the wordpress folder is empty. Delete is permanent, but you still have the zip on your computer: select the folder and the zip file and click Delete.

3. Run the WordPress setup

1. Go to https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php.
2. Choose your language and click Continue.
3. On the welcome screen, click Let’s go!
4. Enter the Database Name, Username and Password from part 1. Leave Table Prefix as it is, and Database Host too unless part 1 showed a different host. Click Submit.
5. Click Run the installation.
6. Fill in Site Title, Username, Password and Your Email, following the advice in Option A.
7. Click Install WordPress, then Log In.

How to tell it worked

1. Go to https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin and log in. The WordPress dashboard opens.
2. Go to Settings → General. Check that Administration Email Address is one you can read. If you change it, click Save Changes.
3. Check that WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) both start with https://. If they start with http://, don’t change them; open a support ticket.
4. When the site is ready for visitors, go to Settings → Reading, make sure Discourage search engines from indexing this site is unchecked, and click Save Changes.

Troubleshooting

• Your domain shows an old site or a parking page: it still points to another host, or a recent change hasn’t spread yet. See how long DNS changes take.
• You still see an old page instead of WordPress: in File Manager, rename index.html in your domain’s folder to index.html.old (Rename is in the More menu), then reload your site.
• “Error establishing a database connection”: the database details don’t match part 1. See how to fix a database connection error.

Still need help?

Open a support ticket from the Client Portal at my.bluearctic.com (see our support page). Include your domain, which option you used, the folder you installed into and the exact error text. Never include your password.