# GoDaddy + LetsEncrypt Certificate Installation *Valid as of September 2020* *note: if you have shell access and want to automatically renew, [follow the steps on this page instead](https://forum.webseodesigners.com/web-design-seo-and-hosting-f16/howto-automatic-free-letsencrypt-ssl-certificates--t3787.html)* Much of the current documentation on this from [LetsEncryt](https://letsencrypt.org/docs/godaddy/) and [Godaddy](https://ca.godaddy.com/help/install-a-lets-encrypt-certificate-on-your-linux-hosting-account-28023) suggests that this is a very hard thing to do - but I'm okay with spending 10 minutes every 2-3 months for a free, quality SSL certificate. If you are too, here's how I do it. ### Run the certbot command Here's my certbot command (replace `mydomain.com` and `*.mydomain.com` with your own): certbot certonly --manual -d mydomain.com -d *.mydomain.com --preferred-challenges dns-01 --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory ### Add TXT Records From the GoDaddy Admin site, navigate to your site's DNS management screen: - Domain Manager (or `Domains`) - mysite.com > \[...\] > Manage DNS - Add `Host` will be `_acme-challenge` (ie: the text record name WITHOUT the domain name part) and `TXT Value` will be whatever your certbot command prompted. This will have to be done twice if you're using a wildcard like me, since that counts as two domains. `TTL` can be very short since it's only a one-time thing. ### Add Certificate Within Godaddy site, navigatate to CPanel SSL/TLS screen: - My Hosting (alias `Hosting & Wordpress`, ...and others) - \[Site Name\] > \[...\] > Settings - File Manager - CPanel Home - SSL/TLS - Click `Manage SSL sites.` `Certificate: (CRT)` will be the first section of `fullchain.pem` that certbot generated, including the `BEGIN` and `END` lines. `Private Key (KEY)` will be the entire file named `privkey.pem` that certbot generated. `Certificate Authority Bundle: (CABUNDLE)` will be the second section of `fullchain.pem` that certbot generated, including the `BEGIN` and `END` lines. Click `Install Certificate` and you're done!