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How to install WHMCS

Justin Dover
  • Updated

Introduction

How do I install WHMCS?

Procedure

There are two methods of installing WHMCS.

Method 1: Install WHMCS Manually

To install WHMCS manually, perform the following steps:

    1. Navigate to the Download WHMCS website.
    2. Enter your license key in the text box and click "Validate and Download." The system will download a .zip file that contains the WHMCS files.
    3. Unzip the contents of the .zip file to a folder on your computer.
    4. In the WHMCS folder, rename the configuration.php.new file to configuration.php.
    5. Upload the WHMCS folder to your website. You may rename the folder if desired.
    6. Navigate to https://domain.tld/whmcs/install/install.php, where domain.tld represents your domain. If you uploaded the WHMCS files to a directory other than public_html, paste that path after your domain name in the URL.
    7. Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
    8. Change the permissions on the directories. To do this, run the following commands: 
      chmod 400 configuration.php
chmod 777 attachments
chmod 777 downloads
chmod 777 templates_c
    9. Navigate to the directory where you uploaded WHMCS and delete the install directory.
    10. Log in to your WHMCS account with your license key.

Method 2: Install WHMCS as Site Software

To install WHMCS with Site Software, perform the following steps:

Note: The Site Software interface was deprecated in cPanel version 104 and does not appear on Ubuntu servers.

  1. Sign into WHM as "root" and go to WHM's Home » cPanel »Install cPAddons Site Software and ensure that WHMCS is installed. If not, you can install it by clicking the check-box and clicking on "Update cPAddon Config."
  2. Navigate to cPanel's Site Software interface ("cPanel » Home » Software » Site Software").
  3. Under "Automation," click WHMCS.
  4. Under the "Install" tab, select a domain from the "Installation Domain" menu. The system will check whether the domain has a WHMCS license.
    • If the domain owns a license, click "Install."
    • If you possess a license for the domain, but the system does not detect it, click "Enter a license manually." Enter your WHMCS license in the "License Key" text box and click Install.
    • If the domain does not possess a license, click "Buy License." The system will connect to the cPanel Store so you can buy a license. After your purchase, the cPanel Store will return you to the "Site Software" interface. Then click "Install."
  5. After the installation completes, the interface will provide a success message, the username, password, and the WHMCS administration URL.

If you need to locate your license key, we've published the following article outlining the process for locating your WHMCS license key:

How To Find your WHMCS license key

For more information on installing WHMCS, please see our documentation below:

https://docs.cpanel.net/knowledge-base/third-party/how-to-purchase-and-install-whmcs/

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