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Install and configure SMF

Install Simple Machines Forum in one click with Softaculous, then set up registration, spam protection, email, boards and a theme before you invite anyone.

TutorialBeginner40 min to completeLast updated
On this page
  1. Step 1: Install SMF with Softaculous
  2. Step 2: Log in and check the basics
  3. Step 3: Set how members register
  4. Step 4: Stop spam before it arrives
  5. Step 5: Make forum email arrive
  6. Step 6: Create your boards
  7. Step 7: Choose a theme
  8. Step 8: Back it up
  9. Check it worked
  10. If something’s wrong
  11. Where to go next
Level
Beginner
Time
About 40 min
Steps
8
You’ll finish with
A working SMF 2.1 forum on your domain, protected from spam, sending email and ready for members

Before you start

  • A Traxio account with your domain (or a subdomain) pointing at Traxio
  • A mailbox on your domain for forum email, such as forum@yourdomain (create one)
  • Your forum plan (plan and create your forum)

8 steps

SMF (Simple Machines Forum) is free, mature forum software with friendly administration and a large library of themes and add-ons. On Traxio it installs in one click. The important part is what you do in the twenty minutes afterwards: set it up properly before the first spam bot finds it.

Finding things in SMF’s admin centre

SMF’s admin centre has a search box. If a menu name here doesn’t match what you see, type the setting’s name, such as “registration” or “mail”, into the admin search.

Install SMF with Softaculous

  1. Log in to DirectAdmin and open Softaculous (type “Softaculous” in the search box at the top).
  2. Find SMF in the Forums category and click Install.
  3. Choose the protocol https:// and your domain. Leave the directory empty to put the forum at the root, or type forum to install it at yourdomain/forum.
  4. Enter your forum name, then an admin username, a strong password and your email address. Don’t use “admin” as the username.
  5. Click Install and wait for the confirmation. Softaculous creates the database and removes the installer for you.

Log in and check the basics

Visit your forum, log in with the admin account, and open Admin from the top menu. On the admin home page you’ll see your SMF version; it should be 2.1.x.

Go to Admin › Configuration › Server Settings and check the forum’s address uses https://. If your SSL certificate isn’t issued yet, finish Make your site secure with HTTPS first.

Set how members register

Admin › Members › Registration › Settings. Choose the method of registration from your plan:

  • Email activation: members confirm their email address before posting. Best for most forums.
  • Admin approval: you approve each new member. Best for small or private communities.

Also turn on agreement to your forum rules at registration, and edit the registration agreement text to include your three rules.

Stop spam before it arrives

Admin › Configuration › Security and Moderation › Anti-Spam.

  1. Turn on visual verification for registration.
  2. Add at least two verification questions that a genuine member can answer but a bot can’t guess. Avoid questions whose answers are easy to search for.
  3. Consider requiring verification for guests posting and for members’ first few posts.

Then, if you want to check new members’ first posts before they appear, enable post moderation and set the permissions for the lowest post-count group so their posts need approval. Stop SMF forum spam explains each option.

Make forum email arrive

Registration emails, password resets and notifications all depend on email. Send them through a real mailbox on your domain over SMTP:

  1. Open SMF’s mail settings (search the admin centre for “mail”).
  2. Set Mail type to SMTP.
  3. SMTP server: your mail server name from your email settings. Port: 465 with SSL/TLS, or 587 with STARTTLS.
  4. Username: the full address, such as forum@yourdomain. Password: that mailbox’s password.
  5. Set the forum’s outgoing email address to the same mailbox.
  6. Save, then use Forgot password on a test account to check an email arrives.

If emails land in spam, set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. SMF email settings has troubleshooting.

Create your boards

Admin › Forum › Boards. SMF creates a sample category and board. Rename them, then add the categories and boards from your plan. Keep it to five to eight boards to start. Make your Announcements board read-only for regular members in its permissions. Organise your boards.

Choose a theme

SMF’s default theme is clean and responsive. For a different look, try Traxio’s free SMF themes on the demo forum, then install the one you like:

  1. Admin › Configuration › Themes and Layout › Manage and Install.
  2. Under Install a new theme, upload the theme’s .zip file unchanged.
  3. Set it as the forum default and save.

How to install a theme in SMF 2.1.

Back it up

A forum’s value is its posts, which live in the database. Take a full account backup in DirectAdmin now, download it, and schedule regular backups. Back up an SMF forum.

Check it worked

Ready to invite members

If something’s wrong

  • Emails don’t arrive. Check the SMTP details, try the other port, and check spam. SMF email settings.
  • “Database error” after installing. Softaculous normally configures this for you; if you moved the forum, check the database details in Settings.php. Error establishing a database connection.
  • Spam registrations get through. Change your verification questions, switch to admin approval for a while and remove the spam accounts. Stop SMF forum spam.

Where to go next

Continue the Build a community forum path: moderators, permissions and keeping the conversation going.

Spotted something out of date or unclear? Tell us and we’ll fix it.

Keep going

Next: Create your first boards and categories in SMF