OpenCart 2 Softaculous Installation
In this tutorial we will show you how to install OpenCart in just a 3 easy steps via the Softaculous auto-installer. Softaculous is an application installer available in the cPanel control panel on all OpenCart Hosting plans.
To install OpenCart via Softaculous, you will need to:
Locate Softaculous in cPanel
To access the Softaculous auto-installer, please login into your hosting account cPanel and navigate to the Software and Services section.
Click on the Softaculous icon to proceed to the Softaculous dashboard. On the Softaculous home page locate the search bar and type OpenCart to locate the OpenCart installation link.
This will redirect you to the OpenCart installation page. Here you can review screenshots, ratings and user redviews as well as check the Softaculous OpenCart 2 demo. Click on the Install tab link from the top navigation menu to proceed with the installation process.
Confgure the Installation Settings
Before you initiate the installation process, please take a moment to review the OpenCart installation settings. First, you will need to select the desired OpenCart version. Currently Softaculous support both OpenCart 1.5 and OpenCart 2. Our OpenCart Hosting plans are fully compatible and optimized for both versions.
You should make sure that the following options are properly configured:
Choose the version you want to install - Select the desired OpenCart version to be installed
Choose Protocol - If you have an SSL certificate installed on your account and you would like to have your OpenCart store accessible via HTTPS, please select the https:// protocol. Otherwise, please leave this option to http://.
HTTP vs HTTPS
Installing your OpenCart application for the https:// protocol, without having a valid SSL certificate, might affect your website accessibility or result in security warnings.
Choose Domain - If you have more than one domain configured on your hosting account or you would like to have OpenCart installed on a subdomain, please select the desired address via the drop down menu.
In Directory - If you would like to have OpenCart installed under a subdirectory of your account, please input the subdirectory name. Be advise that this directory must not exist prior the installation. If you would like to have your OpenCart accessible directly via your domain name, leave this field empty.
Database Name - You do not need to edit this option. Softaculous auto-installer will automatically create and configure your OpenCart database settings.
Next, you should proceed with your store settings. You can safely leave these settings unchanged as you will be able to edit them later via your OpenCart Admin Dashboard. Last but not least, you should setup your administrative username, password and email address. These credentials will be used to access the OpenCart admin panel.
The last optional configuration section includes Advanced Options which allows you to enable update notifications, regular backups and the OpenCart Backup rotation limit.
Complete the Installation Process
When you are ready with your configuration settings, please click on the Install button at the bottom of your page.
If you would like to have your administrative login credentials sent to your email address you can fill in the "Email installation details to:" field.
After just a few seconds your OpenCart installation will be complete. You can follow the links provided by the Softaculous installer to access both your OpenCart frontend and the administrative dashboard.
If you receive Warning messages about errors in the files of the application immediately after the installation, go to your cPanel ? Select PHP Version and enable the nd_mysql/nd_mysqli options. If you do not see those options we recommend you change the PHP version to 5.6 or higher.
Manual OpenCart 2 Installation
In this tutorial we will guide you on how to install OpenCart on your hosting account using FTP and following the OpenCart 2 installation wizard.
To manually Install OpenCart, please follow these steps:
Download and extract the Installation Archive
To start with the OpenCart installation process let's first obtain the installation package which can be downloaded via the Official OpenCart Download Page. Click on the Download link next to the latest available version of OpenCart and save the file on your local computer.
When the download process is complete extract the archive on your local computer and open the newly created directory. Inside the extracted folder you should see several files and a folder called "upload". This folder contains all files and folders that need to be uploaded on your hosting account in order to proceed with the installation process.
Before proceeding to the next step you will need to rename the two configuration files of OpenCart. The first one is located under the upload directory and it is called config-dist.php, please rename this file to config.php.
The second file is located under the /admin/ folder and it is also called config.-dist.php. You need to rename this file to config.php as well.
Upload the files to your hosting account
Start your favorite FTP client and connect to your hosting account. First thing you should decide before uploading the OpenCart installation files is under which folder of your account you would like to have OpenCart installed.
For example, if you would like to have your store accessible directly via your domain name http://example.com you should use the public_html directory to upload your files. In case you would like to have your store setup into a subdirectory such as /store/ and have it accessible via http://example.com/store/, you should create a directory called 'store' under the public_html folder and upload your files there.
Working with FTP
To learn more on how to install a FTP client and access your hosting account via FTP, please visit our step by step FTP tutorials.
When you are ready to proceed with the upload under the desired location, simply drag and drop all files and folders from the 'upload' directory of the OpenCart archive to your hosting account folder.
It might take up to a few minutes to have all files and folders upload. As soon as the process is complete you should see the following list of files and folders under your hosting account folder:
admin/ catalog/ config.php crossdomain.xml .htaccess.txt image/ index.php install/ php.ini system/
If all files and folders are present you are ready to access the OpenCart Installation Wizard.
Access the Installation Wizard
The OpenCart Installation wizard gives you the ability to finalize your OpenCart installation in a 4-step process. Open your favorite browser and access your hosting account via your domain name. This should direct you to the OpenCart installation page.
The first step requires to accept the License Agreement. When you are ready to proceed click on the Continue button.
The next step will perform a basic check of all files to make sure that all OpenCart files and folders are present.
If you have followed the steps in this tutorial closely everything should be OK with your files and folders. In case any of your files are not writable you might need to consult with the install.txt file included in the installation archive or contact your hosting provider to fix your files and folders permissions.
During the next step of the installation process you will be asked for the Database and administrative login credentials. To proceed further with the installation process you should create a MySQL database with a user with sufficient permissions. You can easily create a database and the required user for your installation following our tutorial on How to create a MySQL database via cPanel.
When you are ready, please fill in your database name, username and password as well as the desired admin username and password. The latter will be used to access your OpenCart admin dashboard. To finalize the installation process, please click on the Continue button.
This should finalize the installation process and see the final screen of the OpenCart Installation Wizard.
For security reasons, please access your hosting account via FTP and remove the install directory.
