How to install SSL certificate on a cPanel powered hosting account
From January 2017, all the major web browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge started issuing security warnings to surfers, interacting with a website that collects personal information over a non-secured website.
Millions of websites has since then installed SSL certificate, to stop the security warning being triggered. For webmasters who are yet to install SSL certificate on their website, this tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to installing an SSL certificate on a cPanel powered website.
Installing SSL certificated on a cPanel hosting account
1. Login to your cPanel account. Navigate to the SSL/TLS, this is located under the security tab.
SSL certificate installation step 1
2. Select “Generate, view, upload, or delete your private keys.”
SSL certificate installation 2
3. Click on the “Generate” button, there is no need to choose any options. A private key will be generated for your server.
SSL certificate installation 4
4. Go back to SSL/TLS tab and click “Generate, view, or delete SSL certificate signing requests”
5. Fill all required fields with contact details and click “Generate”.
6. Copy CSR key, a copy of the certificate is also emailed to you.
7. Login to the account where you purchased your SSL certificate. Paste the CSR when you are asked to provide it.
8. You have several verification options; choose your preferred verification method. Email verification is usually the easiest and quickest.
9. Once verification is completed, you will receive .zip archive with SSL certificate and ca-bundle file (optional).
10. Log back into your cPanel, go to SSL/TLS and click “Generate, view, upload, or delete SSL certificates”.
11. Choose “upload certificate” and choose files in your .zip archive. If you have more than one file in your zip archive, upload all the files but not the ca-bundle file.
12. Go back to SSL/TLS and click “Install and Manage SSL for your site (HTTPS)”. In the domain section click “Select a domain” and “autofill by domain” it will do everything automatically.
12b. If you received ca-bundle file with your SSL certificate, paste it manually into “Certificate Authority Bundle: (CABUNDLE)” field.
13. Click “Install certificate”.
14. That is all! Your site should be live on your newly installed https protocol within 5-10 minutes.
15. To verify if you have installed everything correctly, go to https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html . The aspect of your SSL installation that was not done correctly will be flagged.