Introduction

We reviewed WHMCS's installation process through softaculous in our previous tutorial. However, in this one, we will review the manual installation process using a downloaded archive from the official WHMCS website. 

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do before you start the installation process is to download the files manually to your local computer or device. To do that, please visit WHMCS's official download page, choose the WHMCS version you want to install, and then click on the "download" button corresponding to the desired version.

You will receive a login prompt upon clicking the "download" button. For the download process to start, you must provide the correct login details. 

If you have purchased our Web Giant or Site Nova plans, feel free to contact our technical support team. They will be happy to either provide the installation archive or completely handle the installation procedure for you.

Now that you have the installation archive, there are three ways you can go about uploading it to the hosting account:

1. You can upload the archive directly to your hosting account using cPanel's File Manager.
2. You can upload the archive using an FTP client and then extract it on the server.
3. You can extract the archive file locally and then use an FTP client to upload it to your web hosting account.

Let's explore each method one by one, so you can choose the one you find the easiest.

Upload WHMCS's installation archive through the File Manager

After downloading or receiving the WHMCS installation file's archive on your local computer or device, please log inside your cPanel account. If you are unsure how to do so, please follow our tutorial.

Once you have logged into the cPanel control panel, please click on the search bar on the top right and type in “File Manager”. Please select the first result that cPanel generates.

Upon entering the File Manager, please navigate to the folder where you want to upload the WHMCS archive. This directory should be the root folder of the domain or sub-domain where you want to install it.

Once you enter the desired directory, please click on the "Upload" icon at the top of the page. Doing so will redirect you to the "File Upload" page, where you will see a "Select File" blue button, surrounded by a dashed rectangle. 

Please click on the "Select File" blue button. Doing so will open a popup window, allowing you to select a file from your local computer or device. 

Please choose the WHMCS installation archive. Alternatively, you can drag the archive file from your computer or device and drop it inside the dashed rectangle. This action will start the upload immediately.

After the upload process finishes, you must extract the zip file to deploy all the files. To do that, please access the folder where you uploaded the archive. Then please right-click on the archive and select "Extract" from the displayed drop-down menu. 

Allow the process a few minutes to finalize the extraction, and proceed to the next step - Creating a Database.

Upload WHMCS's installation archive through an FTP client

After downloading or receiving the WHMCS installation archive on your local computer or device, please open your FTP client and connect to your web hosting account. To do that, you will need an FTP client. We recommend using FileZilla, as, in our opinion, it is the most user-friendly FTP client. If you are unsure how to use it, please check our tutorials on FileZilla here.

After establishing an FTP connection to your hosting account, please use the left-side window of your FTP client to locate the WHMCS installation archive first. 

Secondly, please use the right-side window to find the folder where you want to upload the WHMCS archive. Usually, this will be the root folder for the domain or sub-domains you want to install WHMCS on. 

After selecting the upload directory, please select the archive and double-click on it. This action will reveal a drop-down window. Please select the "Upload" option. Upon doing so, the WHMCS installation archive will start uploading inside the directory you selected earlier.

After the upload process finishes, you must navigate to the cPanel's File Manager and extract the archive on the server. You can do that by right-clicking on the file inside the folder where you uploaded it and then selecting "Extract" from the displayed drop-down menu. 

Allow the process a few minutes to end, and proceed to the next step - Creating a Database.

Extract WHMCS's installation archive locally and upload the files through your FTP client

After downloading or receiving the WHMCS installation archive on your local computer or device, please extract it. The extraction will take a minute or so, and after finished, you will see a folder called "whmcs_vxxx_full", where the "xxx" represents the version you downloaded.

Now that you have the folder with WHMCS's files, it's time to upload it to your web hosting account. To do that, you will need an FTP client. We recommend using FileZilla, as, in our opinion, it is the most user-friendly FTP client. If you are unsure how to use it, please check our tutorials on FileZilla here.

After establishing an FTP connection to your cPanel hosting account, please use the left-side window of your FTP client to locate the folder you extracted from the WHMCS zip file first. 

Secondly, please use the right-side window to find the folder where you want to upload the WHMCS files. Usually, this will be the root folder for the domain or sub-domains you want to install WHMCS on. An example would be the “public_html” directory, which is the root folder for your web hosting account’s primary domain.

Afterward, please select all the files and folders using the "Ctrl + A" if you use Windows or "Command + A" if you use a Mac. 

Finally, right-click on the panel where you marked the files, and from the revealed drop-down menu, click "Upload". Allow the process a few minutes to end, and proceed to the next step - Creating a Database.

Creating a Database

All modern applications work with a database, and WHMCS is no exception. To proceed with the WHMCS installation, you need to create a database. To do that, please log into your cPanel account using this tutorial. 

Luckily, we have a handy tutorial that will teach you how to add a MySQL database in cPanel. Once you create the database, save the username and password, as you will need them later for the installation setup. A good idea would be to temporarily copy and paste the credentials inside a text file until you finish the installation.

After creating the database, it is time to proceed to the last step - the actual WHMCS installation.

Installing WHMCS

To begin the WHMCS installation process, please open the domain or sub-domain where you deployed the files in your browser. Upon doing so, you will see a "Welcome to WHMCS!" sign, and underneath, you will see a "Click here to begin..." button. Please click it to begin the installation.

You will be redirected to the first page, which will show you the End User License Agreement. 

Please click the green "I Agree" button underneath the text box after carefully reviewing the license agreement.

You will be redirected to the next page, showing you if the web hosting environment meets all the requirements for WHMCS. 

If that's the case, you will see a green box stating that the System Requirements Check Passed successfully. 

If you want a more detailed report on all the requirements, please click on the "View detailed check result" button inside the green box. 

If, for some reason, the system requirements check does not pass successfully, please get in touch with our technical support team over our ticket system so they can take a look.

When you are happy with the system check result and ready to proceed further, please click on the red "Begin Installation" button beneath the green system check box.

The "Begin Installation" button will redirect you to the license key and database configuration page. 

Let's go over all the sections on the page so you can understand it better.

License Key

You will need to enter your application's license key in this section. You can get that by purchasing the application from the official WHMCS website. 

Alternatively, you can purchase our Web Giant or Site Nova Cloud Reseller packages, which include a free WHMCS license key. If you have already done that, don't hesitate to contact our technical team so they can give you the license key.

• License Key - Please enter your WHMCS in this text field.

Database Connection Details

• Database Host - Please enter the database hostname inside this text field. If you are hosting your WHMCS application with HostArmada, the hostname will always be "localhost" or "127.0.0.1".
• Database Port - This text field will always default to 3306. This port is the standard MySQL service port. Please, leave it like this.
• Database Username - Please enter the database username you chose earlier during the MySQL database creation step.
• Database Password - Please enter the database password you entered earlier during the MySQL database creation step.
• Database Name - Please enter the database name you selected earlier during the MySQL database creation step.

Once you have typed in all the required details, please click on the blue "Continue >>" button underneath the database configuration section.

The next step in the installation process requires setting up an admin account. To proceed, please fill in the following text fields:

• First Name - Please enter your first name in this text field.
• Last Name - Please enter your last name in this text field.
• Email- Please enter your email address in this text field.
• Username - Please enter your admin username in this text field.
• Password - Please enter your admin user password in this text field.
• Confirm Password - Please re-type your admin user password in this text field.

After entering the details in the fields above, please click on the blue "Complete Setup" button beneath the text fields.

The above step will take you to the final page before finalizing the installation process. It will require a few additional steps before you can start using the application and all its features! 

Let's go over all the steps and explain them in more detail:

1. Delete the Install Folder - The first step requires you to delete the "/install/" directory. This folder is a security risk that hackers can take advantage of if left unchecked. Please navigate to the FileManager feature of the cPanel Control Panel or use an FTP client to delete it once you get to this stage of the installation process. If you are unsure how to do that, our technical support team is 24/7 at your disposal and will be happy to assist you. You can contact them via live chat or through our ticketing system.
2. Secure the Writable Directories - This step highlights a recommended option that you can skip at this point. By default, we automatically apply the most secure permissions for your folders and files, so you won't have to worry about them. 
3. Set Up the Daily Cron Job - This is a mandatory step, without which WHMCS won't work correctly. Please copy the cron job and follow our tutorial on how to manage cron jobs in cPanel to configure it.
4. Configure WHMCS - This step will entail logging inside the admin area and setting up WHMCS. We will have detailed tutorials on how to do this in our WHMCS tutorial series!

Lastly, to enter your dashboard and use WHMCS, please click on the "Go to the Admin Area Now >>" button at the bottom of the page. 

Doing so will redirect you to your admin URL, and you will need to enter your administrative credentials. 

After entering your administrative details, you will gain access to your admin area, and you may start the configuration process for your WHMCS! We recommend going through the Setup Wizard first, especially if you are not well-versed with WHMCS. We have a great tutorial you can check here.

Conclusion

That wasn't so hard now, was it? Hopefully, the installation process was helpful, you were able to install WHMCS successfully and gained insight into how to install web applications manually. If you experience difficulty with the process, do not hesitate to contact our technical support team via the ticketing system in our Client Area. They will be happy to answer your questions or assist you with any of the steps of the WHMCS installation process.