How to change the document root of the primary domain

Introduction

It is possible to change the document root for addon domains and subdomains of an account, but cPanel does not currently have a feature to change the document root of the primary domain.

There is an existing feature request for this here:

features.cpanel.net - Enable document root change for primary domain

Although cPanel does not currently offer a feature to allow this functionality, you may use the following procedure as a workaround to change the document root for your primary domain.

Procedure

In order to work around the existing limitation, you may change the primary domain of an account to a placeholder domain, and then add your previous primary domain as an addon domain.

1. -- CRITICAL -> Create a backup of the account with the following instructions:
   How to generate a backup of my entire cPanel account
2. Remove any subdomains of the primary domain
3. Login to WHM as the root user
4. Navigate to: Home »Account Functions »Modify an Account
5. Select the user that you would like to modify, then click the Modify button
6. Change the primary domain to a placeholder domain such as: placeholder01.tld
7. Do not modify any other settings, and then click the Save button at the bottom of the page
8. Navigate to: Home »Account Information »List Accounts
9. Click on the orange cP icon for the account to login
10. Click on the Domains icon
11. Click "Create a New Domain" in the upper right area
12. Enter the domain that you were previously using as the primary domain
13. Enter your desired document root
14. Click the blue Submit button
15. Add any subdomains that were previously on the account back to the account