Free SSL Certificate WordPress Plugin, HTTPS Redirect, Renewal Reminder – Auto-Install Free SSL

Installation

(Please check the Details tab for MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.)

Video Tutorial: [cPanel] How to install the plugin and generate & install a Free SSL Certificate for your WordPress website

Video Tutorial: [Plesk] How to install the plugin and generate & install a Free SSL Certificate for your WordPress website

AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION (POPULAR AND EASIEST)

1. Log in to the WordPress dashboard (backend/ admin area).
2. Then navigate to the ‘Plugins’ menu in the sidebar, and click the ‘Add New’ option.
3. In the ‘Search plugins…’ field, type this keyword: ‘Auto-Install’.
4. Once you find this plugin, click ‘More Details’ and the ‘Install Now’ button.
5. Finally, click the ‘Activate’ button.

Now, check the AFTER ACTIVATION section below.

MANUAL INSTALLATION

1. Download the ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’ plugin zip file by clicking the ‘Download’ button at the top-right of this page.

Now check either the WordPress, cPanel or FTP section below. If your web hosting control panel is other than cPanel, the steps are similar to cPanel.

WordPress

• Log in to the WordPress dashboard.
• Then navigate to the ‘Plugins’ menu in the sidebar, and click the ‘Add New’ option.
• Click ‘Upload Plugin’ button.
• Click ‘Choose File’ button and select the downloaded zip file.
• Click ‘Install Now’ button.
• Click ‘Activate Plugin’ button.

Now, check the AFTER ACTIVATION section below.

cPanel

• Log in to your cPanel and click the ‘File Manager’ menu.
• Browse to the document root of your WordPress website and then open the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
• Click the ‘Upload’ menu at the top.
• You see a new window. Drag and drop the plugin’s zip file. It will be uploaded in a few seconds (depending on your internet connection speed). Click Go Back to the “/home/username/public_html/wp-site-document-root/wp-content/plugins” link at the bottom.
• Right-click on the plugin’s zip file, click ‘Extract’, and then click the ‘Extract Files’ button. After completion, you get Extraction Results. Click the ‘Close’ button here.
• Click the ‘Go’ button (at the top-left) to refresh the directory structure. You see the ‘auto-install-free-ssl’ directory here.
• Now check the point-number 2 below.

FTP

• Extract the plugin’s zip file to your computer. You see a folder ‘auto-install-free-ssl.x.x.x’ (the latest version in place of x.x.x), and inside it, the ‘auto-install-free-ssl’ folder. You need to upload this.
• Log in to your web server with your favorite FTP client (e.g., FileZilla).
• Browse to the document root of your WordPress website and then the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
• Upload the ‘auto-install-free-ssl’ folder here.
• Now check the point-number 2 below.

2.- Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Plugins’ page. You see, ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’ is listed here. Click the ‘Activate’ option here. You’re done!

AFTER ACTIVATION

After activating ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’, you’ll be redirected to a page (powered by freemius) where we request you opt-in to our security & feature update notifications and non-sensitive diagnostic tracking. You’ll get links there to learn about this in detail. Then you may or may not allow us to opt-in as you wish. We appreciate your help improving the plugin by letting us track a few non-sensitive usage data.
 

How to generate a Free SSL Certificate

Generating a free encryption certificate is straightforward. Please follow the steps below:

1. After the previous step, you’ll be redirected to the Generate SSL page (in most cases). Otherwise, navigate to the ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’ menu in the sidebar, and click the ‘Generate SSL’ option. Screenshot here.
2. On the next page, i.e., the ‘Generate Free SSL Certificate’ page, read & agree to the Let’s Encrypt™ Subscriber Agreement and FreeSSL.tech Terms of Service & Privacy Policy by clicking the relevant checkboxes. Then click the ‘Next Step’ button and ‘OK’ in the confirmation dialog box. Screenshot here.
3. Wait a few seconds. Then you see the second step: ‘Verify Domain’. Please check the screenshot. You have two methods, HTTP-01 and DNS-01, to verify your domain ownership. You need to complete any one method. We are discussing only the HTTP-01 method, the most popular, easiest, and time-saving method.

HTTP-01

Please follow these steps:

• Log in to your web server with an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla) or the file manager of your web hosting control panel.
• Browse to the document root of your WordPress website. It will be like: /home/username/public_html/wp-site . Create a directory, ‘.well-known’ and another directory, ‘acme-challenge’, inside the ‘.well-known’ directory.
• Click the links’ Challenge File 1′ and ‘Challenge File 2’ to download the HTTP-01 challenge files. Please remember that if the www. alias of your WordPress website doesn’t point to your web server (i.e., offline), you get only one challenge file.
• Upload the downloaded challenge files to the ‘acme-challenge’ directory.
• Uploaded files should be available at ‘Link 1’ and ‘Link 2’. Please click the links. The content/text of the links should EXACTLY match the content of the downloaded files. If it matches correctly, click the ‘Verify Domain (HTTP-01) & Generate Free SSL’ button, and in the confirmation dialog box, click ‘OK’.

Now wait a few seconds, and you will see a free SSL certificate has been issued to your WordPress website. The page looks like this screenshot. Download the SSL, Private Key, and CA Bundle files (.pem) by clicking the links.

After this, log in to your web hosting control panel and install the SSL certificate on your WordPress website.

How to install the SSL certificate with cPanel

1. Log in to your cPanel.
2. Type ‘SSL’ in the ‘Search Tools’ text box (in the upper-right corner).
3. You get a few search results instantly. Click on the ‘SSL/TLS’. (Don’t click the ‘SSL/TLS Status’.)
4. On the SSL/TLS page, you get an option ‘INSTALL AND MANAGE SSL FOR YOUR SITE (HTTPS)’ at the bottom with a link ‘Manage SSL sites.’ Click it.
5. On the next page, i.e., ‘Manage SSL Hosts’, you get a section at the bottom, ‘Install an SSL Website’. Here you get a form to install the SSL certificate.
6. From the ‘Select a Domain’ drop-down menu, select the domain of your WordPress website.
7. Open the ‘certificate.pem’ file (you downloaded it) in a text editor and copy all its content/text, including ‘—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–’ and ‘—–END CERTIFICATE—–’. Paste it in the ‘Certificate: (CRT)’ text area.
8. Similarly, paste all the content of the ‘private.pem’ file in the ‘Private Key (KEY)’ text area.
9. Then paste all the content of the ‘cabundle.pem’ file in the ‘Certificate Authority Bundle: (CABUNDLE)’ text area.
10. Now click the ‘Install Certificate’ button and wait a few seconds. Then you get the confirmation dialog box ‘SSL Host Successfully Installed.’ Click ‘OK’.

How to install the SSL certificate with Plesk

1. Log in to your Plesk control panel.
2. Click the ‘Websites & Domains’ option in the left menu.
3. Click on the website for which you need an SSL certificate. There are several options under it.
4. Click the option ‘SSL/TLS Certificates’.
5. Click the ‘Manage’ button on the next page in the ‘Download or remove existing certificates’ option.
6. Click the ‘Add SSL/TLS Certificate’ button on the next page.
7. You got the ‘Add SSL/TLS Certificate’ page.
8. In the ‘Certificate Name’ text field, write a name.
9. You got a section at the bottom of the page, ‘Upload the certificate as text’. Here you have a form to install the SSL certificate.
10. Open the ‘certificate.pem’ file (you downloaded it) in a text editor and copy all its content, including ‘—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–’ and ‘—–END CERTIFICATE—–’. Paste it in the ‘Certificate’ text area of Plesk.
11. Similarly, paste all the content of the ‘private.pem’ file in the ‘Private key’ text area of Plesk.
12. Then paste all the content of the ‘cabundle.pem’ file in the ‘CA certificate’ text area of Plesk.
13. Now click the ‘Upload Certificate’ button.
14. The uploaded SSL certificate is listed on the next page.
15. Again, click ‘Websites & Domains’ in the left menu.
16. Click the website for which you need an SSL certificate.
17. Click the ‘Hosting & DNS’ tab and the ‘Hosting Settings’ option.
18. On the next page, i.e., the ‘Hosting Settings’ page, click the ‘Certificate’ selection field and select the certificate we just uploaded.
19. Click the ‘Apply’ button and then click ‘OK’.
20. Congratulations! The SSL certificate has been installed successfully.

Now you can access your website with ‘https://’.

The options will differ if your web hosting control panel is anything other than cPanel and Plesk, but the concept is similar.

NOTE: The free SSL security certificate issued by Let’s Encrypt™ expires in 90 days. So you need to spend time repeating the process of generating and installing an SSL certificate every 60 days. They recommend renewing 30 days before expiry.

Click the ‘Re-generate (renew) SSL’ button to start renewing.

However, the premium version of this plugin generates (issue/renew) and installs the free SSL certificate automatically. Please check the video tutorial (1:42 min) below and see how easy it is.

Are you interested? Click here to BUY the PREMIUM VERSION.

How to Activate Force HTTPS / HTTPS Redirect

After installing the SSL certificate, please perform the following steps:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’ menu in the sidebar, and click the ‘Force HTTPS’ menu.
2. On the next page, click the ‘Activate Force HTTPS’ button. Then click OK.
3. You’ll be logged out and redirected to the WordPress login page. Please log in again.
4. Now refresh the website’s home page. You’ll see the padlock.

Troubleshooting

Access the ‘Log’ menu within the ‘Auto-Install Free SSL’ menu in the left-hand sidebar. Be sure to review the log for any insights.

If you encounter issues with the Let’s Encrypt™ API connection and wish to log Let’s Encrypt™ server response details for each API call, you can achieve this by writing the following URL in the address bar by replacing ‘www.example.com’ with your domain name, and hit enter:

  http://www.example.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=auto_install_free_ssl&log_all_ca_server_response=yes 

To stop logging all responses from the Let’s Encrypt™ server, replace ‘yes’ with ‘no’ in the above URL.

Please check the existing topics in the WordPress support forum before creating a new topic for support or reporting a bug.