cPanel AutoSSL Automatic Certificate Installation Error Solution

Why Can't Free SSL Be Installed in cPanel?

In modern web hosting processes, an SSL certificate (HTTPS) is indispensable for the security of your sites and Google rankings. With the "AutoSSL" feature it offers, cPanel defines an automatic and free certificate (Sectigo or Let's Encrypt) to your sites in the background. But sometimes the certificate installation fails by getting errors like "WARN The domain failed DCV" or "Error 400". There are two main reasons for this: DNS mismatch problem and hidden .htaccess redirects.

1. Verifying DNS (Name Server) Records

To be able to issue a certificate to a domain, AutoSSL checks whether that domain (and its "www" version) goes to the IP address of the current server. Check with whois tools whether your domain's Name Server information belongs to your server. Also, make sure that the A record has the correct server IP in the Zone Editor in cPanel. If you use an intermediary CDN like Cloudflare, AutoSSL cannot reach the domain during validation and gives an error; you should turn off the Cloudflare proxy (orange cloud) feature until the validation is over.

2. Disabling .htaccess Redirects

If there is a mandatory redirect from HTTP to HTTPS or to another address on your site, the hidden validation file (.well-known/pki-validation/) created by AutoSSL on the server cannot be reached from the outside. Temporarily rename your .htaccess file in the public_html folder to .htaccess_old via the cPanel File Manager and restart the AutoSSL process (Run AutoSSL). You can revert the file name after the certificate is installed.

3. Changing the Provider (Sectigo -> Let's Encrypt)

Sometimes the API servers of Sectigo, cPanel's default provider, can crash or respond slowly. By entering the WHM panel (admin panel) and changing your provider to "Let's Encrypt" from the "Manage AutoSSL" menu, you can solve certificate errors on all sites with a single click.

If you don't want to deal with critical security and configuration issues like SSL, you can choose our fully equipped and manageable İyibirNet VDS Server packages and leave the technical burden to our engineers!