support@soft2hosting.com
Support
Soft2Hosting Contact Sales
Home Linux / cPanel Blog FAQs

Soft2Hosting

Softaculous Auto Installer in cPanel: One-Click WordPress, Joomla and WooCommerce Setup

14 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Softaculous is the application auto-installer bundled with cPanel shared hosting. It installs over 400 scripts—WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, phpBB, and many more—by automating the steps that used to take 20–30 minutes: creating a database, uploading files, running the installer, and setting the admin password. The entire process now takes 60–90 seconds.

Accessing Softaculous in cPanel

Log into cPanel (your hosting provider sends login details in the welcome email, or access via yourdomain.com/cpanel or the link in your hosting account dashboard). In the cPanel home, scroll to the Software section and click Softaculous Apps Installer. Alternatively, click the WordPress shortcut icon if it appears in the same Software section.

Installing WordPress: Step by Step

  1. In Softaculous, click WordPress in the left sidebar under CMS or use the search bar.
  2. Click the blue Install button.
  3. Fill in the Software Setup section:
    • Choose Protocol: https:// (requires SSL, which Soft2Hosting provides free via AutoSSL)
    • Choose Domain: Select your domain from the dropdown
    • In Directory: Leave blank to install at the root (yourdomain.com/) or enter a subdirectory
  4. Fill in Site Settings:
    • Site Name: Your business name
    • Site Description: One sentence tagline
  5. Fill in Admin Account:
    • Admin Username: Use a unique username—not "admin" (a common brute-force target)
    • Admin Password: Use a strong, unique password generated by a password manager
    • Admin Email: A working email address you check regularly (used for password resets and WordPress notifications)
  6. In Advanced Options (optional but recommended):
    • Change the database name from the default if you want something recognisable
    • Enable Auto Upgrade for WordPress core to keep the installation updated automatically
  7. Click Install. Softaculous creates the database, uploads files, and configures WordPress. When complete, it shows the front-end URL and admin URL with login credentials.

Post-Install Checklist

Do these immediately after installation before launching the site:

  • Log into WordPress admin at yourdomain.com/wp-admin using the admin credentials from the Softaculous install summary.
  • Update all plugins and themes: Dashboard → Updates → Update All.
  • Delete unused themes: Appearance → Themes → delete all themes except your active one and Twenty Twenty-Three (kept as a fallback). Unused themes are a security risk if not patched.
  • Install LiteSpeed Cache: Plugins → Add New → search "LiteSpeed Cache" → Install and Activate. This is the cache plugin that integrates with Soft2Hosting's LiteSpeed Web Server for maximum performance.
  • Install a security plugin: Wordfence or iThemes Security for login rate limiting, file integrity checks, and two-factor authentication for the admin account.
  • Set your permalink structure: Settings → Permalinks → select "Post name" (yourdomain.com/sample-post/). This is better for SEO than the default numeric URLs.
  • Verify SSL: Open the site in a browser and confirm the padlock appears in the address bar. If not, go to cPanel → SSL/TLS → AutoSSL and run an AutoSSL check.

Installing WooCommerce via Softaculous

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin rather than a standalone CMS, so the process is slightly different:

  1. Install WordPress first (steps above).
  2. Log into WordPress admin.
  3. Go to Plugins → Add New → search "WooCommerce" → Install and Activate.
  4. Run through the WooCommerce setup wizard: select your country (India), currency (INR), and payment methods (Razorpay, PayU, or Stripe for Indian businesses).

Alternatively, in Softaculous you can search directly for WooCommerce—Softaculous will install WordPress and WooCommerce in a single operation.

Managing Softaculous Installations

Softaculous keeps a record of all scripts it has installed on your account. Access this via Softaculous → All Installations. From here you can:

  • Take a backup: Click the backup icon next to an installation to create an archive of files and database stored in your cPanel account's home directory.
  • Restore a backup: Select a previous backup point and restore to that state. This is the fastest recovery path if a plugin update or malware incident corrupts the site.
  • Upgrade: Softaculous can update WordPress to the latest version in one click if you did not enable auto-upgrade during installation.
  • Remove: Uninstalls the script and (optionally) drops the database—use with caution.

Installing Other Applications

Beyond WordPress and WooCommerce, Softaculous includes:

  • Joomla: Popular CMS for more complex site structures and multi-language content. Installation process is identical to WordPress.
  • Drupal: Enterprise-grade CMS favoured for government and educational portals.
  • PrestaShop / OpenCart: Standalone e-commerce platforms if you prefer not to run WooCommerce on WordPress.
  • phpBB: Community forum software if your business needs a support or discussion forum.

Every Softaculous installation creates its own database and file directory, keeping multiple applications isolated from each other on the same cPanel account.

All Soft2Hosting plans include Softaculous, cPanel, LiteSpeed Web Server with LSCache, free auto SSL, and NVMe storage. See Soft2Hosting Web Hosting for plan details and pricing.

Sources