Usually, this is the case when you try to sign in via your domain name (i.e., yourdomain.com/cpanel). If you are not prompted for your cPanel Password when visiting this URL, then your domain may not yet be pointed at the hosting server.

This can take 24 - 48 hours from when you first configure your domain’s nameservers to work. Usually, your welcome email will provide an IP based login URL as well which you can use in the meantime.

If you have tried to sign in to cPanel previously but got the password wrong, a firewall can be flagged at the server level. This will mean that your connection to the server has been denied, and the page will not load.

Usually, you will also not be able to view your website on the server either. To rectify this, open a support ticket with your hosting provider stating that you believe that your IP address is blocked as you are having difficulty gaining access.

If you search in Google for “What is my IP” you will be shown your IP address. You should include this in the support ticket. In some circumstances, such as company networks, your Network may be blocking port 2083 with the firewall.

If you see the Login page, but your Username and Password does not work you should first ensure you are using the correct case for your username and password. The username should be all lowercase, and the password is case sensitive, so use capitals and lowercase where appropriate.

Also, check that you are not using your Hosting Account’s user area login details as these are quite often different from your cPanel Login details. If you need to reset your Username Password, there is some useful advice here.

This is a common problem when you have Cloudflare setup, and you try to login to cPanel via the domain URL (yourdomain.com/cpanel, or yourdomain.com:2083), and is caused by you trying to sign in via HTTPs which CloudFlare may not be configured to support. As a result, your stylesheets do not load causing issues with how it looks.

An alternative is to use the non-encrypted port 2082, instead of 2083, but I recommend using the IP based login URL.

You may see a warning message when you try to access your cPanel login and will vary slightly depending on which browser you are using.

This is pretty common for all but the server name login method, so don’t worry. It occurs because the SSL certificate does not match the domain of your server’s SSL.

For the server name cPanel login, there may not be a warning as the SSL may match the domain of your server. However, some hosting providers do not purchase a third-party certificate, but instead, self-sign it. Because you know the identity of your host, and you can verify that the connection is encrypted by click on the padlock in the Address Bar, it doesn’t matter. It is worth using this option if it works.

They apply to shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated hosting with the cPanel control panel.

If you have reseller, VPS, Cloud or Dedicated hosting, then you may have the WHM administrative area (some Managed Reseller or Managed VPS or Cloud may restrict access to WHM).

You can also sign in to individual cPanel accounts by going to “Account Information” -> “List Accounts” and clicking on the cPanel icon next to the account.

Our tutorial is made with the latest Paper Lantern theme. The majority of hosting providers use this, or at least some slightly modified version of it.

There are older themes still in use, and some companies like SiteGround or GoDaddy go with a completely customized and integrated version (which may have restricted or added custom features). Despite the differences, getting started with cPanel is relatively easy.