Joomla installs from the Softaculous Apps Installer in cPanel, with no FTP and no touching the database. It takes under a minute. Here is the whole path, and what is worth deciding first.
The installer offers two families: the 5 series, which is current, and the 4 series, for people who still need older extensions. Take the 5 series unless you have a concrete reason not to.
What Joomla asks of your account
| Requirement |
Where you stand |
| PHP version |
The 5 series wants PHP 8.1 or newer. The 4 series is happy with less. If your account is on something older, change it in Select PHP Version: see changing your PHP version without breaking the site. |
| PHP extensions |
Joomla asks for mysqli, json, simplexml, dom, zlib and gd. On our accounts all of them are already on, so there is nothing to do here. |
| Database |
The installer creates it. You do not prepare anything in advance. |
| Space and files |
A clean installation is among the lightest of the serious CMS platforms. It still counts against the limits of your account. |
Installing, step by step
| 2 |
In cPanel, find the Software group and open the Softaculous Apps Installer. Type Joomla in the search box and click Install.
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| 3 |
Pick the version at the top of the form. If the one you want is greyed out, the installer tells you why, and it is nearly always the PHP version.
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| 4 |
Pick the address. Set the protocol to https, choose the domain, and leave the directory field empty to install at the root. Anything you type there puts the site inside that folder.
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Fill in the site name and description. You can change both later inside Joomla, so do not linger.
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Create the administrator account. Do not leave the username as admin, and use a long password: our password generator will make you one. Check that the e-mail address is one you actually read, because that is how you get back in.
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Open Advanced Options and switch on automatic upgrades and automatic backups. Two tick boxes, one saved morning.
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Click Install. When it finishes, the installer shows two addresses: the site and the administration area. Keep both.
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Joomla administration lives at /administrator. If you installed at the root of a domain, the way in is that address plus /administrator. Bookmark it on day one.
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The first few minutes after installing
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Check the site opens over https and that the padlock is there. If it is not, see the causes, in order.
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Log in and apply the pending updates before you start building anything.
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Switch on two-step authentication for your administrator account. Joomla ships with it.
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Take a backup before the first template or the first extension. That is where things break, and that is when the copy earns its keep.
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The administration panel is the front door. A Joomla with the username admin and a short password starts collecting login attempts from all over the world within days. A different username, a long password and two-step authentication close nearly all of it.
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Keeping it, and undoing it
In the Softaculous installations list, Joomla offers upgrade, clone, backup, change admin password and sign in without typing the password. The clone button is the honest way to try a large change: clone to a subdomain, break the clone freely, then repeat on the original.
If you have lost the way in, see recovering the Joomla administrator password. To understand what the installer does for you on any platform, see installing a ready-made platform.
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Is the version you want greyed out, or did the install stop halfway? Send us the message exactly as it appears.
Open a support ticket
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