Why You Should Manually Install WordPress Instead of Using Fantastico (and How to Do It)

Fantastico is a script installer included with cPanel, and it allows you to set up platforms like WordPress with just a single click. However, there are a few disadvantages to this convenient method:

• Fantastico does not install the latest version of WordPress. WordPress gets updated frequently, and unfortunately, Fantastico cannot keep up with the frequency of these updates, so you will always be left behind. It is important to keep WordPress updated to avoid security vulnerabilities.
• Fantastico utilizes the default security settings during the WordPress installation, and these settings are well-known to hackers, making it easier for them to attack your website.
• Fantastico is known to have bugs, which means it does not always work smoothly.

Installing WordPress manually does not require much extra time, and it will make your website more secure. The first step is to download the latest version of WordPress from http://wordpress.org/. The downloaded file will be in .zip format, so extract the file to the directory of your choice on your hard drive.

The next step is to create a database for WordPress. If you are unfamiliar with this process, refer to the tutorial “How to Create a Database Using the MySQL Database Wizard in cPanel”.

Once you have created your database, look for the wp-config-sample.php file in the wordpress folder that you extracted. Rename this file to wp-config.php and open it in a text editor like Notepad or an HTML editor like Dreamweaver.

Replace database_name_here, username_here, and password_here with the name of your database, the username of the database user, and the database password, respectively.

NOTE: If you encounter an error during the WordPress installation stating that you cannot connect to the database, try using your cPanel username and password in the wp-config.php file instead of your MySQL database username and password, and it should work.

Scroll down the wp-config.php file and locate the following URL:

https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

Copy and paste this URL into your browser and press ENTER. You should see something like this:

Copy and paste all of the generated text into the wp-config.php file, replacing the existing code shown in lines 45-52 in the screenshot above.

Scroll further down and find where it says $table_prefix. Replace wp_ with another prefix of your choice. Ensure that the prefix consists of only numbers, letters, and underscores. The reason for customizing your table prefix is to make it more difficult for hackers to attack your website. If you were to install WordPress using Fantastico, you would not have the ability to customize the table prefix.

Once you have finished editing wp-config.php, save the file. Next, upload the WordPress files and directories to your website’s public_html directory using an FTP client. For more information on how to upload files, refer to the tutorial “How to Upload Files to Your Website Using WinSCP (an FTP Client)”.

If you want to install WordPress in the root of your website, do not add the “wordpress” folder itself to your public_html directory. In your FTP client, navigate to the contents of this folder (in the left pane) and upload the contents. If you want to install WordPress in a subdirectory on your website, such as /blog/, then create a directory on your server called blog and upload the WordPress files and folders to it. In WinSCP, for example, you can create a directory by right-clicking on the appropriate pane and selecting New > Directory.

After uploading WordPress, go to the installation page in your web browser. For example, if your domain is mywebsite.com and you uploaded WordPress to a directory named “blog,” you would go to:

http://mywebsite.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php

You should see the installation screen:

Fill in the required information, but leave the password field blank because WordPress will automatically generate a strong password for you, which you can view on the next screen after clicking the Install WordPress button.

After clicking Install WordPress, you will see the following screen. Take note of your password and click the Login button. WordPress is now installed, and you are ready to start using it.