Installing OpenCart on Virtual Hosting

OpenCart is an e-commerce platform focused on building online stores.

According to the official website, the software offers the following advantages:

• Open-source code.

• Well-documented software.

• Unlimited categories, products, and manufacturers.

• Unlimited information pages.

• Multilingual support and translatable interface.

• Ability to install custom themes.

• Built-in modules:

  • customer reviews;
  • product rating system;
  • image resizing system;
  • related products display;
  • discount and coupon system;
  • shipping method selection system.

• Ability to set multiple tax rates.

• Option to specify product weight with and without packaging, and dynamically calculate shipping costs.

• Search engine optimization.

• Unlimited modular system to run multiple stores from a single installation.

• Backup and restore tools.

• Error log.

• Error reporting.

To install, download the official OpenCart installation package. You can download the English version here. You can download the Russian version here.

Next, log in to your cPanel and go to "Files → File Manager".

Select the installation path for OpenCart, then click the "Upload" button to upload the installation file to your server.

Drag the OpenCart archive to the upload area or click Select File to choose the file from your computer. Then click Go Back to... and navigate to the OpenCart installation folder.

Select the uploaded archive and click Extract. Extract the contents into the OpenCart installation folder.

The extracted files should include:

• the upload folder – contains all files required to install OpenCart on your server;
• the license.txt file – the license agreement that allows you to use OpenCart on your site;
• the install.txt file – installation information;
• the upgrade.txt file – upgrade information.

By default, the archive extracts into a subfolder called upload, so installation would proceed from this subfolder. To begin the installation, move all files from the upload folder to the root installation directory. Select all files in the upload folder and click Move.

In the Enter the file path to move this file to field, remove /upload and click Move Files.

Make sure folders and files have the correct permissions: In the Permissions column:

• folders should be 0755;
• files should be 0644.

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To begin installing OpenCart, you need to create a database and a new database user in cPanel. Go to "MySQL Databases → Databases".

In the New Database field, enter a name and click Create Database.

Create a new database user by entering a username and password in the MySQL User section. Click Create User.

Scroll down to Add User to Database. Select the database and the user you just created, then click Add.

In the Manage User Privileges window, check All Privileges and click Make Changes.

The database is now ready.

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Next, open your website in a browser to launch the OpenCart step-by-step installer.

Read the license, check the "I agree to the license" box, and click Continue.

If there are no errors in the Status column, click Continue at the bottom of the page.

If you see errors under Please make sure you have set the correct permissions on the files list below, such as "File missing," these files are usually extracted with the name config-dist.php by default.

In that case, go to the corresponding folders and rename the files by removing -dist, so that they are named config.php.

After refreshing the page, all items in the Status column should show no errors. Click Continue.

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To complete the installation, enter the previously created:

• database name;
• username;
• password.

Leave the Hostname field as the default value (localhost). Leave the database prefix as "oc_" (default value for manual OpenCart installation).

Then, enter the admin username, password, and email, and click Continue.

If everything is done correctly – Installation complete.

To see how your store looks, click Go to your online shop.

If your website and OpenCart admin panel appear in English by default, you will need to manually download and install the Russian language pack. You can find more information in the official guide.

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