Install WordPress with Softaculous

April 7, 2026 · 3 min read · Markdown

This guide takes you from an empty hosting account to a working WordPress site, then covers the three settings worth changing before you write a single post. You need to be logged in to cPanel, and your domain should already point at your hosting (or you're fine with the site not being publicly reachable until it does).

Run the installer

1. In cPanel, find Softaculous Apps Installer and open it.
2. Click WordPress, then Install.
3. Choose the domain to install on. Leave the "In Directory" field empty unless you specifically want the site at yourdomain.com/blog or similar; empty means the site lives at the domain itself.
4. Set the site name and description. You can change both later, so don't agonize.
5. Choose an admin username and a strong password, and enter an email address you actually check; WordPress sends password resets there.
6. Click Install and wait. Softaculous creates the database, copies the files, and wires everything together.

When it finishes, you'll get two links: your site, and your admin login at yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Bookmark the second one.

Before you leave cPanel, glance at SSL/TLS Status and confirm your domain has a valid certificate, so the site and the login page load over https.

Three settings to change right away

WordPress ships with defaults that are worth five minutes of cleanup. Log in to wp-admin and do these before anything else.

1. Don't run the site as "admin". If you entered admin as the username during install, replace it. Attackers hammer wp-admin with that username all day long. Go to Users, add a new user with the Administrator role and a name that isn't guessable, log out, log back in as the new user, and delete the old admin account (WordPress will offer to reassign its content to the new user; say yes).

2. Fix the permalinks. Go to Settings, then Permalinks, and choose Post name. You get URLs like /about-us instead of /?p=123, which is better for readers and search engines alike. Do this before you publish anything, because changing URL structure after content exists creates broken links.

3. Remove the sample content. WordPress installs a "Hello world!" post, a sample page, and a placeholder comment. Delete the post under Posts, the sample page under Pages, and empty both trash folders. While you're at it, go to Plugins and remove any pre-installed plugins you don't plan to use; inactive plugins are just future security updates you'll forget about.

That's the essential list. Themes, plugins, and content can come at your own pace.

If it didn't work

• Softaculous says the directory is not empty. Something already lives in public_html (often an old site or a leftover index page). Move or delete those files in File Manager, or install into a subdirectory instead.
• The install finished but the site shows another page or an error. Your domain's DNS may still point at your old host, so you're looking at the old server. Check where your nameservers point and allow time for propagation.
• You can't log in to wp-admin. Use the "Lost your password?" link with the email address you gave during install. If that fails, Softaculous lists your installations and lets you reset the admin password from cPanel.

Stuck on any of it? Reach us at /support and we'll get your site sorted.

Stuck partway through? Support is answered by the engineers who run the servers, around the clock.

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