Download the InstantCMS distribution file from the Official Site.

Unpack the downloaded archive and upload it on the server into your site folder.

Go to «http://your-site/install» (where your-site - your site address) to launch the Installation Wizard.

Set permissons for all CMS files to (chmod) 644, while permissons for directories should be set to (chmod) 755. Then set permissons to 777 for /cache/ and /upload/ directories and all their subfolders. During CMS installation the /system/config/ directory should be writeable (chmod 777) too. When installation is complete, set permissions to 755 for it.

On unix-like systems you can use the following simple script to quickly set correct permissions.

#!/bin/bash
 
clear
 
if [ -z "$1" ]
  then
    echo "Enter an absolute path to the InstantCMS 2.X root folder"
    exit
fi
 
SITE_PATH=$1
 
echo "Set correct access permissions for the site with the $SITE_PATH root folder"
 
find $SITE_PATH/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find $SITE_PATH/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
 
chmod 777 $SITE_PATH/system/config;
 
find $SITE_PATH/cache -type d -exec chmod 777 {} \;
find $SITE_PATH/upload -type d -exec chmod 777 {} \;
find $SITE_PATH/templates/modern/css/ -name "*.css" -exec chmod 666 {} \;
find $SITE_PATH/templates/modern/controllers/ -name "*.css" -exec chmod 666 {} \;

Copy the code above and paste into any file, name it, set permissions (655) and run using parameter to pass an absolute path to the site’s root, for example:

file: chmod_icms.sh
run it like this: chmod_icms.sh /path/to/icms_site_root

You can select the language before beginning the installation. The selected language will be used both during installation and on the site itself once the installation is complete.

In addition, you have to create the utf8_general_ci encoded MySQL database beforehand. The database may be empty, however, it is not obligatory. To avoid conflicts with the existing tables, you can change the tables' preffixes (see below).

InstantCMS is released under the GNU/GPL V2 license.

Original license text is published here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

You need to accept the license terms in order to continue the installation and InstantCMS use.

InstantCMS 2 requires PHP version 7.2 or later.

The Required extensions section contains a list of PHP modules without which InstantCMS won’t work. If any of them is marked by the «Not found» string, you have to request your server administrator (or hosting support) to install the required module. Once the module is available, restart the Installation Wizard (refresh the page).

The Recommended extensions section contains a list of PHP modules without which InstantCMS functionality will be restricted. For example, automatic plugin installation will be unavailable.

At this step, you must specify the paths and URLs for the site root, upload folder and cache folder.

Default settings are suitable in most cases.

When CMS is installed into a subdirectory, the «.htaccess» file should be edited in the following way :

1. Find strings

RewriteRule ^sitemap(.*).xml$ /cache/static/sitemaps/sitemap$1.xml [L]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php [L]

2. replace them with

RewriteRule ^sitemap(.*).xml$ /subfolder/cache/static/sitemaps/sitemap$1.xml [L]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /subfolder/index.php [L]

where «/subfolder/» is the path to the InstantCMS folder in reference to the site root.

In addition, if you want to use a single database of users together with the other site operating on InstantCMS 2, you need to change the path and URL of the upload folder. They should refer to the upload folder of the first (earlier created) site. Images and files that are uploaded by users should have identical paths on both sites.

For example, the first site has the following address «http://site1» and is installed in the «/var/www/site1» folder. Current site address is «http://site2» and its directory is «/var/www/site2». You should provide the following paths then:

Folder for uploads: /../site1/upload/
URL for uploads: http://site1/upload

In other words, you have to provide the first site’s upload folder path in referance to the current path. Provide first site’s upload URL as well.

At this step, you should provide the details to connect to the MYSQL database that was created beforehand.

If you don’t know which details to provide, request your server administrator or hosting support.

In the Database engine field you can select the database engine. Database engine, storage engine is the DBMS component that controls databases or a library that links to programs and supplies them with DBMS functions. MyISAM is suitable in most cases.

In the Table prefix field, there is a set of symbols that will be added to the name of each table that is created in the database. This is necessary to avoid conflicts with the already existing tables in a particular database. If CMS is installed into an empty base, prefix makes no difference (you can set a default one).

The User table field allows to select an already existing table in which site users are stored. It is needed, if a particular database already contains the tables of the other site, which operates on InstantCMS, and you would like to have the common user table. Provide a full name of an already existing table (as it is displayed in phpMyAdmin)

If you tick the «Install sample data» checkbox, the Installation Wizard will also install sample content for you to get a closer view of the CMS.

At this step, the main administrator profile is created. When installation is complete, you will be able to authorize on the site using your e-mail and password.

The main administrator has a full access to all administrative functions and Control panel.

If at the previous step you have chosen an already existing user table, you don’t need to specify administrator’s data. In this case, they will be taken from the common table.

At this step, the main configuration file of the site is created. The path to it is shown in the Installation Wizard.

When installation is complete, you need to make the folder that contains the file (and all files in this folder) unwritable. For security reasons.

At this step, you can find detailed instructions on how to create a CRON scheduled task on the server.

The «install» folder must be deleted from the root directory once installation is complete. Set permissions to 755 for the /system/config/ directory. For correct functioning of Authorization and Registration you need to get the reCAPTCHA Keys for your domain.

Extension Installation and Upgrade Guide