Installation help for a Computer Noob

I want my site to run HTTPS instead of HTTP. I have no idea about server and commands.
How do i get the certificate installed.

I only know wordpress. I installed the WP encrypt plugin and clicked on “Generate Certificate” in settings panel of Wordpress. It showed certificates created and told me the location. I changed the site URL to https from http in wordpress settings too. but it didn’t worked.

I still cant find any easy way to do it. The web host does not support saying its third party SSL. For their help they are asking me to pay them and buy certificate from them, then only they will help me to install the certificate. I am on godaddy hosting.

Initially i thought i was doing something wrong, so i clicked the Generate certificate few times and now it is showing “no more certificates can be generated for the site” error.

So i tried 24 hrs later and it is showing me “Challenge request failed for domain www.mainframenation.com.”

I have domain "www.mainframenation.com"
host: godaddy
I have CPanel on godaddy
i have no idea about servers, operating system and root shell

Please tell me how can i do it? I am aware that it could be a technical thing. I just want a step by step guide, “like copy file from this folder to this. Then click on this button

Any help will be useful for me.

Without answers to the questions, it’s virtually impossible to help you. The instructions we’d give you depend on those questions ( what your operating system is, what access you have, if you have root access etc etc )

What @serverco said. We really need to know the exact situation of your website to only begin to help you.

GoDaddy offers shared hosting, but also Virtual Private Servers. What’s the “product” you pay for?

Can you click on SSL/TLS in the Security section of your cPanel?

Earlier you said about the WordPress plugin: “It showed certificates created and told me the location.”

Now, if you now the location of your certificate and private key and you have the SSL/TLS section in cPanel, isn’t it possible to upload the certificate and private key generated by WP to cPanel?

1 Like

Does the Wordpress plugin mention something like “fullchain.pem” or “chain.pem”? Because you need to include the intermediate certificate in cPanel, probably in the “Certificate” section. Unless you have a separate “Chain” section, then you need to put the chain there.

If WordPress didn’t give you anything like that, you can find the intermediate (“chain”) certificate here: https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/ Currently, the Let’s Encrypt Authority X3 (IdenTrust cross-signed) is active. Search for it on the page. Then, you can click on “txt” behind it. That’s the chain certificate you also need to apply somewhere in cPanel. If you don’t have a “Chain” section in the SSL/TLS section, you need to put the certificate contents you just found underneath the certificate you just installed in the Certificate section of cPanel. That way you’ll end up with two certificates in one section.

Also, is your Filezilla connection encrypted?

I’d recommend putting fullchain.pem into the Certificate section of cPanel. (If you don’t have a “Chain” section of the sorts of course!)

SFTP is fine :slight_smile:

Hmm, for some reason the chain is already loaded:

Certificate chain
 0 s:/CN=mainframenation.com
   i:/C=US/O=Let's Encrypt/CN=Let's Encrypt Authority X3
 1 s:/C=US/O=Let's Encrypt/CN=Let's Encrypt Authority X3
   i:/O=Digital Signature Trust Co./CN=DST Root CA X3

That’s the output I’m getting with OpenSSL.

So it looks like you’re all set!

1 Like

Do note however: Let’s Encrypt certificates are 90 days valid, so you’ll need to renew your certificate before that! You’re not in luck with such a shared site without the means for automation; you’ll just have to do it manually again in about 60 days or so :slight_smile:

Euh, why did you remove al your posts? That’s kinda odd behaviour, other people might find this thread useful if they found it.

@nunuma - as Osiris says, the thread is useful for others who have similar issues - I’ve reset the posts.

1 Like