How to install Softaculous script installer in cPanel

Add the Softaculous script installer to your cPanel interface so you can deploy WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and other content management systems with a single click. These steps target cPanel 118.x running on a standard Linux distribution like AlmaLinux 9 or Rocky Linux 9. You will configure the necessary permissions and upload the installer files to your root home directory.

Prerequisites

• cPanel account with root or reseller privileges.
• Access to the cPanel home directory via SSH or File Manager.
• Web server access (Apache/Nginx) configured for the cPanel user.
• At least 100 MB of free disk space in the home directory.

Step 1: Upload the Softaculous installer package

Download the latest Softaculous installer script from the official GitHub repository. You need the zip archive that contains the installer core and the required PHP dependencies. Upload this file to the root of your cPanel home directory using the File Manager or an FTP client.

cd ~
unzip softaculous-pro-latest.zip

Once the archive is extracted, you will see a directory named softaculous-pro in your home folder. This directory contains the main index.php entry point and the configuration files needed to run the installer.

Step 2: Set correct file permissions

Ensure the installer files are readable by the web server user. The cPanel home directory typically belongs to your primary user, but the web server runs as www-data or apache. You must grant execute and read permissions to the installer directory and its contents.

chmod -R 755 ~/softaculous-pro
chown -R $(whoami):$(whoami) ~/softaculous-pro

Run the second command to ensure the files are owned by your cPanel user. This prevents permission denied errors when the installer tries to write configuration files or create new database entries.

Step 3: Configure the installer settings

Edit the main configuration file to define the installation path and enable the installer. Open the softaculous-pro directory and locate the config.php file. Update the $root_url variable to point to your cPanel home directory.

cd ~/softaculous-pro
nano config.php

Find the line that reads $root_url = 'http://example.com/'; and replace example.com with your domain name or IP address. Save the file and exit the editor. This ensures the installer generates URLs that are accessible from the public internet.

Step 4: Enable the Softaculous launcher in cPanel

Access the cPanel interface via your browser and navigate to the Software section. Look for the Softaculous application. If it is missing, you may need to add the launcher manually. Create a new application in the Software list by adding a shortcut to the Softaculous index file.

cd ~/softaculous-pro
echo "index.php" > softaculous

Create a symbolic link so that the Softaculous application appears in the main cPanel dashboard. This makes the installer accessible via a standard URL like http://yourdomain.com/cp/softaculous.

Step 5: Verify the installation

Open your browser and navigate to the Softaculous URL. You should see the Softaculous dashboard with a list of available scripts. The interface will display categories like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and many others. If you see the dashboard, the installation was successful.

curl -I http://yourdomain.com/cp/softaculous

The response should return a 200 OK status code. This confirms that the web server is serving the Softaculous files correctly.

Troubleshooting

Error: Permission denied when accessing Softaculous
This happens if the file permissions are set to 600 or 700. Run chmod -R 755 ~/softaculous-pro to fix it. Ensure the directory is not owned by root if you are not using root privileges.

Error: Softaculous not found in cPanel software list
The launcher was not created correctly. Check that the softaculous file exists in the ~/cp directory. If it is missing, recreate it with echo "index.php" > ~/cp/softaculous.

Error: Database connection failed
The installer cannot connect to MySQL. Verify that the MySQL service is running and that the cPanel user has database privileges. Check the config.php file to ensure the database host and credentials are correct.

Error: Softaculous loads but no scripts are listed
The script list is cached. Clear the cache by deleting the cache directory inside ~/softaculous-pro. Then reload the page to refresh the list of available CMS applications.