{"id":58,"date":"2026-06-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/install-free-ssl-at-namecheap-ssh-acme-sh"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:19:32","slug":"install-free-ssl-at-namecheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/install-free-ssl-at-namecheap","title":{"rendered":"Install a Free SSL Certificate on Namecheap with SSH and acme.sh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Installing a free SSL certificate manually using SSH gives you full control and works perfectly on Namecheap cPanel hosting. This guide uses <strong>acme.sh<\/strong> with Let&#8217;s Encrypt.<\/p>\n<h2>Requirements<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Your domain is pointed to your Namecheap hosting<\/li>\n<li>SSH access is enabled in cPanel<\/li>\n<li>Website is accessible via HTTP (not forced HTTPS yet)<\/li>\n<li>Port 80 is open<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step 1: Login to SSH<\/h2>\n<p>Connect using Terminal or PuTTY.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cpanel-terminal.webp\" alt=\"cPanel Terminal\" width=\"902\" height=\"483\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Step 2: Install acme.sh<\/h2>\n<p><em>Run:<\/em><\/p>\n<pre><code>curl https:\/\/get.acme.sh | sh<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/achme-installation.webp\" alt=\"acme.sh Installation\" width=\"847\" height=\"299\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then reload your environment:<\/p>\n<pre><code>source ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2>Step 3: Verify Installation<\/h2>\n<p>Check if acme.sh is installed:<\/p>\n<pre><code>ls -a &amp;&amp; pwd<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/achme-check.webp\" alt=\"acme.sh Check\" width=\"409\" height=\"104\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You should see a .acme.sh folder in your home directory.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 4: Generate SSL Certificate<\/h2>\n<p>Run the following command:<\/p>\n<pre><code>~\/.acme.sh\/acme.sh --issue -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com -w \/home\/username\/public_html\/ --server letsencrypt<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ssl-installation-command.webp\" alt=\"SSL Installation Command\" width=\"1340\" height=\"94\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>What this does:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Verifies your domain<\/li>\n<li>Generates SSL certificate using Let&#8217;s Encrypt<\/li>\n<li>Stores files in .acme.sh directory<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step 5: Install SSL in cPanel<\/h2>\n<p>Deploy the certificate automatically:<\/p>\n<pre><code>~\/.acme.sh\/acme.sh --deploy -d yourdomain.com --deploy-hook cpanel_uapi<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/auto-installation-ssl-cpanel.webp\" alt=\"Auto Installation SSL cPanel\" width=\"1062\" height=\"255\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This installs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SSL Certificate (CRT)<\/li>\n<li>Private Key<\/li>\n<li>CA Bundle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Final Check<\/h2>\n<p>Visit your site: <strong>https:\/\/yourdomain.com<\/strong> You should now see a secure lock.<\/p>\n<h2>Optional: Single Command Setup<\/h2>\n<p>You can issue and install SSL in one line:<\/p>\n<pre><code>~\/.acme.sh\/acme.sh --issue -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com -w \/home\/username\/public_html\/ --server letsencrypt &amp;&amp; ~\/.acme.sh\/acme.sh --deploy -d yourdomain.com --deploy-hook cpanel_uapi<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2>Common Issues &amp; Fixes<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1. Incorrect webroot path<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use correct path: <code>\/home\/username\/public_html\/<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. Domain not resolving<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check DNS settings in Namecheap<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. Port 80 blocked<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disable firewall or contact hosting support<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>4. SSL installed but not working<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Add HTTPS redirect<\/li>\n<li>Clear browser cache<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Manual SSL installation using SSH may look technical, but it&#8217;s fast, reliable, and gives you full control over your certificates. Once set up, renewal is automatic\u2014no extra work needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step-by-step guide to install free SSL certificate on Namecheap cPanel using acme.sh and SSH. Auto-renewal setup included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webdeskart.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}