Installing WordPress on Crazydomains hosting drives me nuts!!!
I always forget how to install it, as to say that it’s not the most obvious installation method is probably the understatement of the century! For anyone struggling (and for me the next time I do this) this may help: –
- Fantastico installation from Crazydomains hosting DOES NOT WORK. I have tried this on different accounts using different methods and it never works. Don’t even bother wasting your time trying.
- Download WordPress and follow the instructions on http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress.
- When you come to configuring the wp-config.php file you will need to add in the database, user, password and hostname. This bit always completely throws me as these are not what you expect at all ie they are not what you set up in phpMyAdmin! The following is what you need: –
- DB_NAME – Here you need to include your account (not database username). If you are using phpMyAdmin you will see this on the left hand of the interface, but you need to include the first and second level bullet which shows ‘account-name’ and ‘database name’. Eg if your account name in Crazydomains is ‘account-name’ and the database you set up is ‘wordpress’, you will need to use ‘account-name_wordpress’.
- DB_USER – Follows the same format. You will need to include your account name despite the fact this is not shown anywhere. You will also see in phpMyAdmin a username like username@localhost. You need the first part of this before the @ sign. You need to then include the Crazy domain account name too. Add in ‘account-name_username’.
- DB_PASSWORD – Just the password. Finally something simple.
- DB_HOST – Just ‘localhost’.
Hopefully this will get you set up. After that just run the install script and you should connect ok!
Good luck!
Hi Simon,
Thanks for the post – this was driving me nuts. I’ve successfully installed WordPress on another host before and I couldn’t work out what I was doing wrong.
Just a quick question, what are the next steps after creating the database and downloading WordPress? Did you just upload the files using an FTP? Is there anything else I need to be aware of?
Thanks
Nell
Hey Nell,
Thanks, I wrote this post after I had been driven nuts not knowing what was wrong.
After I’d edited the wp-config.php file I just posted it up via FTP. Then you need to go to wp-admin/install.php to finish the installation. I used the 5 minute install on http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress.
Let me know if you have problems and I’ll try and help you out.
Cheers
Simon
There’s usually only 3 issues that occur with a Fantastico install of WP on cPanel. 1) it might fail if you don’t remove any placeholder index.php files 2) it might fail if you’ve previously made an install to the same directory with Fantastico and just deleted the files, you’ll need to delete the hidden folder “.fantasticodata” 3) if you’ve changed your cPanel password sometimes this doesn’t sync with the MySQL user and you’ll get an error in Fantastic regarding access being denied for the user; a password reset will fix that.
Hey nightstick. I’d love to say that was true, but all installations I have tried are on completely new hosting accounts, so none of the above would apply. I think its just a dodgy installation to be honest!
Hi SImon,
Sorry to be vague but I have been trying to follow the WP 5 step install for the last hour and I’m getting stuck at step 4. Upload the files. What do I click on in the crazy domains cp to do this? Thanks, really appreciate your tips on this 🙂
Hey Karen
There is probably an FTP program part of the Crazydomains interface that allows you to upload, but to be honest I would use either an FTP program if you have one or the free FileZilla which you can get from http://filezilla-project.org/download.php or Google FileZilla and download from there.
If you have Dreamweaver or any other web development software you can usually upload from there too.
Hopefully that helps. If not let me know and I’ll try and help out.
Cheers
Simon
Hi,
I have had some difficulties with the Fantastico WP install in the past (had to install it to a sub-directory, it wouldn’t install to the root dir).
This time however, it worked perfectly. The only problem was related to me changing the password and not waiting until it had replicated across CDs servers. Once I called up and they forced it manually, everything went fine – it was a 2 minute job.
Hooray, they might have finally fixed it. I’ll give it another go next time I use them.
Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks for that Anne, finally got to work!
My WordPress installation failed only because it had conflicting files. I deleted the default index.php file and it worked fine after that, installing it from the cPanel.
Got the following error, the way it is solved is changing localhost to 127.0.0.1
Error establishing a database connection
This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can’t contact the database server at localhost. This could mean your host’s database server is down.
•Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
•Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
•Are you sure that the database server is running?
If you’re unsure what these terms mean you should probably contact your host. If you still need help you can always visit the WordPress Support Forums.
Hi, ok so I am totally confused. I downloaded wordpress and upgraded and paid for it – and then I registered my domain name and hosting with Crazy Domains and I can not work out how to bring them both together.
It said in wordpress that I can bring my domain name in for an extra $13 for two years – so I did that and then I have to edit DNS which I have absolutely no idea what that even means and then when I go into it – it gives an explanation of entering codes to bring the host and domain name over and I’m confused and argh. Please help
Hi Megan
They don’t make it easy! The DNS settings are essentially like a postcode for the Internet. It tells your browser where it really must go when you type in a URL. To do that they have to be held somewhere independently called a dns server. When you type in the address, that is looked up on your dns server (usually your Internet service provider does this), and the browser is told where to go.
The bit that is missing at the moment is that dns server part. In truth it is fairly easy, though I haven’t used wordpress.com myself. What you need to do is:
1. Login in to Crazydomains
2. Click Manage Domain in the left hand sidebar
3. Click on the domains you want to manage.
4. The 2nd section is called Name Server Details. Click update name servers in the blue area under the title.
5. You should now see a list with Name Server 1 something like ns23.domaincontrol.com and Name Server 2 something like ns24.domaincontrol.com. These are the ones that are currently not linking through to your site, so make a note of them just in case, then press delete on the right hand side.
6. Now you just need to add new ones. In your case they should probably be the following, unless you have been told something else:
ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com
You will need to enter all 3 and you should be done.
Now the tricky bit. In most hosts you expect them to say the updates may take up to 72 hours, but you find in 2-3 it has all happened. With Crazydomains I have had recent experience of this taking over a week! I hope that was an isolated case, but…….
Hi Mate
Just wanted to say that your post was excellent and helped me out. It was awesome. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. J
Wow, I’m glad I found this blog post!
I’ve just registered with Crazydomains, did the usual things first, like change my password, and then hunt down the place where I could launch the install of WP.
Well it failed miserably from Fantastico every time; if I’m reading the above correctly though, it may just be because of my password change — and if I either wait long enough for it to sync, or request a password reset it may be fine.
Either way, there seem to be plenty of helpful pointers above, so if I have to do it in a more manual way, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem … I know where to come to ask questions!!!
Thankyou.
After hours and hours of trying to figure out what I did wrong.. I finally found this post!
Thanks so much for your help with this.
I. Was. Going. Insane.
THANK YOU!
Hi Simon,
Great post! I see it is a few years old now though. I am hoping it will help me though. I recently decided to move my websites to Crazy Domains. I have three WP sites in total, but I’m having THE WORST time migrating them over. Crazy Domains support team have been a bit hit and miss (to sum it up briefly!) so I’m hoping I can take care of this myself without having to fork over $99 for their Advanced Support Team. Do you know if what I need to do will work with your steps?
David
Hi David,
Sorry for taking so long to reply to your comment. My first question is probably, do you need to use Crazydomains. They are cheap, so if cost is an issue they are ok, but something like a Godaddy Delux Linux hosting is cheap and will let you host all 3 sites in 1 account. They won’t be hosted in Aus though, so if that’s important to you Crazydomains might be your only option.
If you can pay more, WPHosting is excellent and will migrate the sites for you if you ask their customer service people. If your looking for cheap and fairly local, WebhostingNZ host in New Zealand and they are amazingly cheap, seem to offer great customer service and free SSL certificates. They probably won’t move the site for you, but I’m not sure.
So assuming you have your hosting and have to move the site yourself, I would try a plugin called “All-in-one WP Migration” (https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/). Just install it on your live site, run the backup, download it, install the plugin on your new site, import the file via the plugin and that’s about it.
btw – While you are moving the site, you can sort it all out so that the site is completely ready. Ask the host for the IP of your new site (before you have moved the url over), then change the hosts file on a second computer (see http://support.hostgator.com/articles/how-do-i-change-my-hosts-file for how to do this). This will trick the computer into thinking that your new hosting is the live site. You can then do your import above, check the site, then point your DNS over to the new hosting when you are ready. That way the users will see no down time at all and the hosting switch will be completely seemless.
Hope all that is helpful! I tend to get a bit carried away!
Cheers
Simon
Great post. I’m dealing with some of these issues as
well..