What you’ll need
- DirectAdmin access
- An email address you check regularly
- A password manager
Softaculous handles the database, files and installer for you. The choices that matter are the location, the admin username and the password.
Steps
Step 1: Open Softaculous
Open Extra Features then Softaculous Auto Installer, find WordPress, and select Install.
Step 2: Choose where it goes
Protocol:
https://. Domain: your domain. In Directory: leave it empty so WordPress is atyourdomain.co.uk, notyourdomain.co.uk/wp.Step 3: Set up the admin account
Username: not
adminand not your public name. Password: long and unique, from your password manager. Email: an address you’ll always have.Step 4: Install
Leave optional plugins unticked and select Install. Note the admin address shown when it finishes.
Step 5: Log in
Visit
https://yourdomain.co.uk/wp-adminand sign in. If your domain isn’t connected yet, wait until it is. How to log in to WordPress adminStep 6: Set permalinks
Settings → Permalinks → Post name → Save.
Step 7: Hide the site while you build
Settings → Reading → tick Discourage search engines for now. Remember to untick it at launch.
Step 8: Update and tidy
Run any updates in Dashboard → Updates, and delete plugins and themes you won’t use. Settings to change straight after installing WordPress
Check it worked
You can log in at /wp-admin, the front page loads over https://, and a test page at yourdomain.co.uk/sample-page/ works (proving permalinks are set).
If something goes wrong
| What happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| Softaculous warns files exist | A placeholder index.html is in public_html. Remove it and install again. |
| Security warning on the site | SSL hasn’t issued yet because DNS isn’t pointing to Traxio. SSL certificate not issued or not renewing |
| Inner pages 404 | Re-save permalinks. 404 Not Found: why pages are missing and how to fix it |
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