Securing private areas of your website
With the Directory Privacy feature, you can secure individual folders on your web space so that visitors are required to enter a username and password when accessing them via a browser. This is ideal for administration areas, test installations, or private downloads.
Step 1: Select the directory
Navigate to Files -> Directory Privacy in cPanel. You will now see your folder structure:
- Click on the folder icon to display subfolders.
- Click on the name of the folder you wish to protect.
- A lock symbol indicates if a directory is already protected.
Step 2: Activate protection
- Click Edit next to the desired folder.
- Check the box "Password protect this directory".
- Enter a label in the "Name for the protected directory" field (e.g., "Internal Area"). This text will be displayed to visitors in the login window.
- Click Save.
Step 3: Create users
Once protection is activated, you need at least one authorized user:
Enter a name and a secure password under "Create User". It is best to use the Password Generator to achieve a strength of 100/100. Finally, click "Save".
/admin), all subfolders within it (e.g., /admin/images) are automatically protected as well.Troubleshooting: Cannot create user?
If saving a user fails, it is usually due to the folder's file permissions. In this case, go to the File Manager and ensure that the folder has permissions set to 0700 or 0755.
Manage or delete users
In the "Authorized Users" list, you can see all accounts that have access to the folder. Here you can remove users with a click or update their passwords by re-entering the data.
Would you like to remove the protection completely?
Simply uncheck "Password protect this directory" and save the settings. CURIAWEB Support is happy to assist you with further security questions!
