Softaculous helps you to install web applications very easily. Please, follow the steps below to install SMF Simplemachine Forum.
1. Log in to your cPanel account.
2. In the Software section, click on Softaculous Apps Installer.
3. You will be sent to the Softaculous interface by cPanel.
4. On the left side, locate the Forums category. Click on it and then on the SMF link that appears.
5. Click on Install.
6. Fill in the necessary fields under the Software Setup fields:
- Choose Installation URL: Choose the appropriate protocol/domain. If you want to install this in a directory, such as example.com/directory, enter the directory name in the "In Directory" field. Otherwise, please, leave it blank to install in your main domain, i.e., example.com.
7. Under the Board Settings field, enter the following information:
- Board Name: Name of the forum.
- Visual verification image to display: Select the appropriate option as per your preference.
- Board E-mail: The e-mail address of the forum.
8. Under the Admin Account field, enter the following information:
- Admin Username: Your new phpBB username (for security reasons, do not use the administrator or the admin username).
- Admin Password: Use a strong password.
- Real Name: Leave this as it is or enter your real name.
- Admin Email: Your email address. It is helpful for admin account password reset, notification, etc.
Note: Copy the admin username and password to Notepad. You will need those to access the admin area of your SimpleMachine(SMF) forum later.
9. Choose Language: You can choose the language of your SMF forum. The default language of SMF forum is English.
10. Advanced Options: Unless you want to modify the database name or do an automated backup, leave this alone. Please keep in mind that creating frequent backups can consume a lot of disk space. Finally, scroll down to the end of the page and click on Install.