Something went wrong? Start with the symptom.

1. Open the site directly with https://.
2. If the certificate warning appears, do not add redirects yet.
3. Confirm the certificate covers the exact hostname you opened.
4. Check whether the certificate is expired or missing in cPanel.
5. If HTTPS itself works but the page still says Not Secure, check for page resources still loading over HTTP.

1. Check the address bar: are you opening the root domain or the www version?
2. Make sure the certificate was requested for that exact name.
3. Confirm DNS points to the correct server before requesting a new certificate.
4. Try a private/incognito window to rule out old cached certificate information.

If HTTPS is already working, the tested GoDaddy cPanel redirect is:

Put it in the website document root as .htaccess, then test again in a private window.

1. Confirm the domain is added in cPanel.
2. Check the domain’s Document Root.
3. Make sure the actual site files are in that folder.
4. Confirm an index.html, index.php, or equivalent homepage exists.
5. Check permissions only after verifying the correct folder.

1. Confirm DNS has a www record.
2. A common setup is a CNAME from www to the root domain.
3. Make sure the SSL certificate includes both names if you want both to work securely.
4. Test https://www.example.com directly.

1. At the registrar, check the root A record.
2. Remove only old parking records that conflict with the website records.
3. Keep unrelated MX/TXT records unless they truly need to change.
4. Try a private/incognito window and another network/device.
5. Allow time for DNS caches to update.

1. Confirm certsage.php is in the domain’s real document root.
2. Return to wizard step 5 and prepare your official download again using the confirmed document root. A version mismatch means stop and use supported 3.3.1 or wait for a compatibility review; do not bypass the check.
3. If no file downloads, allow downloads for this site and use a current browser over HTTPS. The file is processed locally. Rename any browser-added suffix so the uploaded name is exactly certsage.php.
4. If CertSage cannot create its folder, ask your host to confirm account Home is private and writable by PHP. Do not move private files into public_html or make them world-writable.
5. Make sure the private folder exists at the account Home level, outside public_html.
6. For a fresh installation, CertSage creates password.txt during initialization and generates account.key during the first production certificate acquisition if needed.
7. Do not copy another site’s account.key, password.txt, or certificate files into it.

The correct renewal command, added manually exactly once:

• Before changing cron, save a complete copy of the current crontab.
• After adding the line, re-read the full crontab and confirm every unrelated line is unchanged and the new line appears exactly once.
• If anything unrelated disappeared or changed, stop and restore your saved copy.
• Create an empty autorenew.txt file in the private CertSage.example.com folder before first opening CertSage, so CertSage skips its automatic cron-install block while the marker remains. The marker does not prove the cron job exists — always verify the cron line itself.
• If the command already exists once, leave it alone. Never create a duplicate.

1. Open cPanel → Domains.
2. Find the domain and read its Document Root.
3. Make sure it is not sharing the main domain’s root by accident.
4. Confirm the correct website files are inside the listed folder.

On some GoDaddy cPanel setups, the Force HTTPS switch may not be usable when AutoSSL is not active.

If the certificate is already valid, use a tested .htaccess redirect instead of assuming the certificate failed.