Manual installation is useful when you are restoring a specific WordPress version, installing into a subfolder Softaculous will not accept, or working from a copy you already have.
1. Create the database
- In cPanel, open MySQL® Database Wizard under Databases.
- Enter a database name and click Next. The full name will be prefixed with your cPanel username, for example
user_wp01. - Create a database user and a strong password. Write down the full username, again prefixed, for example
user_wpadmin. - On the privileges screen tick ALL PRIVILEGES and click Next.
2. Upload WordPress
- Download the latest release from wordpress.org and keep the .zip file.
- In cPanel open File Manager and browse to
public_html(or the subfolder you want). - Click Upload, select the zip, then go back and use Extract.
- Extracting creates a
wordpressfolder. Open it, select all files, choose Move, and move them one level up intopublic_html. Delete the now-emptywordpressfolder.
3. Run the installer
- Visit https://yourdomain.com in your browser.
- Choose your language, then enter the database name, database user and password you created. Leave Database Host as
localhostand the table prefix aswp_(or change it to something custom for extra security). - Complete the site title and admin account screen and click Install WordPress.
If you see "Error establishing a database connection" at this point, the database name, user or password does not match. Re-check them in MySQL Databases and remember the username prefix.