I wish I had come across this thread sooner. Maybe I could have saved the OP some money.
They don’t make it easy, but if a GoDaddy hosting account is on a Linux server that uses cPanel, then it is possible to use 3rd party SSL certs, including LE’s.
The OP has already done the move, and spent the money, so it will not help him, but others are likely to find this thread, so I’ll lay it out anyway.
To install a Let’s Encrypt SSL cert on GoDaddy, go through this process: {Replace my_domain_name and my_domain_name.com with the appropriate name for your domain.}
Log into your cPanel
In the 8th section “Security”, click on "SSL/TLS"
Under the heading “Private Keys (KEY)”
– Click on "Generate, view, upload, or delete your private keys."
Under the section “Generate a New Private Key”
– Select the key length you want
– Enter a Description, if you choose
– Click on "Generate"
On the new page you are presented with the newly generated private key.
You should copy everything inside the top gray box and save it to a file on your own computer, maybe my_domain_name.key
By everything I mean the top line:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
and the bottom line:
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
and all the “gobble-gook” between. The second box contains a host of mathematical stuff that may have some use, but I’m clueless what, and you don’t need it for an LE cert.
Now click on the link “Return to SSL Manager” at the bottom of the page.
Back on the SSL/TLS page, under the heading “Certificate Signing Requests (CSR)”
– Click on the link "Generate, view, or delete SSL certificate signing requests."
Under the heading of “Generate a New Certificate Signing Request (CSR)”
– Use the “Key” drop-down to select the private key you just created.
– In the “Domains” text area, enter the name, or names, you want covered by the cert.
One per line, you probably want at least my_domain.com and www.my_domain.com, and you may want to include others, such as blog.my_domain.com, or store.my_domain.com, etc.
Be aware that LE has a limit of 100 names per certificate, and even though the instructions on cPanel mention “wildcard” domains, LE does not support them, so do not include *.my_domain.com in you list of names.
Also, it is probably unwise to include other domains, such as my_other_domain.com in the list. Allowed by LE, but probably creates other problems for you.
Finish filling in the rest of the boxes in that section, except “Passphrase” which is not used by LE.
Then click on “Generate” at the bottom.
Again, you get to a new page with two gray boxes. Copy everything in the first box and save it to your own computer, maybe as my_domain_name.csr
Click on “Return to SSL Manager” at the bottom again.
In a new window/tab/browser go to zerossl.com
Click on "ONLINE TOOLS"
Under the “FREE SSL Certificate Wizard” heading, click on "START."
Fill in the “Email” box. Yes it’s optional, but without it LE cannot send you an email to remind you when the cert is close to expiring.
Open the file you saved the csr into and copy everything there and paste it in the text area that says “Paste your CSR or leave it blank to generate.” That is the lower-right box.
Check the two “Accept” boxes under that text-area.
Click on “NEXT” in the upper-right section.
After a while, how long depends on your computer, the lower-left box will be filled with a new key.
That is your Account key with LE, NOT the private key for your domain.
You will need that to renew the domain cert later. You can also use that Account key when creating certs for other domains later by pasting it in that box when you are pasting the CSR in its box.
Copy all of that and save it on you computer.
Except for using that Account key here, it sould never leave your computer.
– Do NOT upload it or copy it to your server.
– DO SAVE it someplace safe, and back it up!
Once you have saved that Account key, click on the “NEXT” button again.
Next, on the Verification page, you are given the names of files to create, and the data to put in them.
There will be one file for each domain name you listed when generating the CSR.
Using FTP, or the cPanel file manager, create each of the named files, with the given data.
The instructions on that page are pretty clear.
Once you have created all those files click on the “NEXT” button one more time.
You should now be on the final page, "Your certificate is ready!"
Copy everything in the small box and save it to your computer. Maybe as my_domain_name.crt.
Go back to the cPanel page, which may have timed-out, log in again and return to the SSL/TLS page if needed.
Under the heading “Certificates (CRT)”,
Click on the “Generate, view, upload, or delete SSL certificates.” link.
Under the heading “Upload a New Certificate”,
– Paste the CRT that you just saved from the zerossl site in the big text area.
– Enter a description if you choose.
– Click on "Save Certificate"
On the screen showing success, click “Go Back” then on the bottom of that page, click on the “Return to SSL Manager”
Under the last heading “Install and Manage SSL for your site (HTTPS)”, click on the “Manage SSL sites.” link.
Under the “Install an SSL Website” click on the “Browse Certificates” button.
A dialog box shows up with the certificates you have on the server, probably just the one.
Select the radio button next to the one you want to install and click “Use Certificate”.
The dialog closes and the boxes are pre-filled with the information you have already saved onto your computer, so click the “Install Certificate” button.
You should get a notice of success, clicking “Ok” will reload the page and show the installed certificate(s).
You may have to repeat the Browse and Install steps for each domain you named in the certificate, especially if you have other certificates already covering some of them.
That should be the end of it all.
For renewals you can repeat the process, skipping the CSR and KEY generation, and including the Account key on the zerossl site.
Then using the cPanel file manager, copy/paste the new cert contents into the file /ssl/certs/xxxxxx
The actual filename will be the domain name, with “_” instead of “.” and a long GUID number.
Alternatively, you can use FTP to upload the saved CRT file, using that long name.
Not “automated” in any fashion, but it is available, and it does work.
The initial cert has to be installed the long way, because the “Installing” near the end is what causes their server to reload the host definition.
After that, the process could be automated, once someone has taken the time to extract the needed, unique, filenames from the server.
I imagine GoDaddy makes good revenue from the sale of certs, so I don’t look for them to ever enable the cPanel functionality for LE that I believe is now commonly available.
At least they don’t charge to “install” a 3rd party cert like some other sites do.
I have been with them over a decade, and reluctantly have decided to move on. Their service has always been good for me, but their price structure is no longer competitive (registration, hosting, or other services.)
Sorry for the belated help George.
Best wishes for those still with them, and hope this helps others later.
