Install Moodle2.2 on godaddy

After searching the forums and GoDaddy support, I was finally able to successfully install Moodle 2.2 to my shared hosting account. I am listing the steps here to assist anyone else who might face this challenge.

Please note that this is based on using a small site that has a few courses and visitors and is used mainly for the purpose of reviewing elearning courses that are in development.

The GoDaddy account used for this process has Windows IIS7, PHP 5.3 and MySQL.

To use this method you will need to know how to access your GoDaddy site via FTP.

1. Download the Moodle 2.2.2+ zip file to local Windows PC and unzip.

2. Edit the install.php file as instructed in the forum post found at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=200872, which states:

      Probably the only way to get Moodle 2.0 install right now is to hack the install script. Find the place in install.php where it says

       } else if (is_dataroot_insecure()) {

      and change it to

      } else if (false and is_dataroot_insecure()) {

3. Login to your GoDaddy account and open the Hosting Control Center for your web hosting account. Copy the absolute hosting path information shown on the Hosting Dashboard and save it.

4. Go to the Content section of the Hosting Control Center and open the FTP File Manager. Create a moodle subdirectory under the root. Edit its permissions to allow read and write access.

5. Create another subdirectory that will ultimately hold the moodledata directory under the root directory. You can name it anything you want. I will call it "holder" for this explanation. Edit the permissions of the "holder" directory to allow read and write access.

6. Return to the content section of the Hosting Control Center and open the IIS Management page. Create a new virtual directory called "holder" (or whatever name you used in step 5). Edit the settings so that Anonymous Access and Directory Browsing are NOT allowed. With these settings the "holder" directory will not be accessible through a web browser.

7. Go to the database section of the Hosting Control Center and click on MySQL to create a new database for your Moodle installation. Be sure to keep a copy of the dbname, dbuser, dbhost, and dbpass.

This step should complete your preparation of your GoDaddy site to be ready for Moodle.

8. Using FTP upload all of the Moodle files that you unzipped in step 1 (including the install.php that you edited in step 2) to the moodle directory on your GoDaddy site.

9. In your web browser go to the URL for your moodle directory (such as http://www.mysite.com/moodle). The install.php script should start running. Be sure to put in the correct path and directory information for your site and for your moodledata directory (which in this example would be something like d:\myhost\myplace\html\holder). (Note: In this way you are putting the moodledata directory into a location that is not accessible via browser.)

10. Follow the onscreen instructions to fill in the other information where requested.

These steps worked as of May 2012.

See Also

Installing_FAQ