Yes, I normally Blog about WordPress but today we turn our attention to installing Joomla on Hostgator shared Hoasting. The latest version of Joomla can easily be run on Hostgator but there are a few changes that are needed. You could use Fantastico but this will install a superseded/old version of Joomla. In this Blog Post I therefore assume that you’ve downloaded the Joomla software and are installing onto Hostgator via FTP.
How to Update PHP version
Once Joomla software has been uploaded via FTP and you visit your domain name in your Internet Browser you’ll likely see the error message Your host needs to use PHP 5.3.1 or higher to run this version of Joomla! . Hostgator runs PHP version 5.2.x by default but it’s simple to override the default PHP version. Just dot he following:
- Using your FTP client connect to folder into which you’ve installed Joomla.
- Rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess
- Open .htaccess to edit the file
- Add the following to the top of the .htaccess file
AddType application/x-httpd-php53 .php
A Joomla compatible version of PHP will now run on Hostgator.
Joomla Register Globals Off problem
If you now refresh your Internet Browser the PHP error will no longer appear but you’ll see that, in the Pre-Installation Check, that there is a red highlighted no next to Register Globals Off. Here is how to resolve this issue.
- Log into your Hostgator Cpanel.
- In the Software/Services section click on php.ini QuickConfig
- Change the register_globals option to Off and click Save Changes
In your Web Browser, where you have you domain open, click refresh and you’ll be able to continue to install the latest version of Joomla.
Nice!
