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How can I find my website's root directory?

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Managed WordPress

  • Applies to: Grid
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: File Manager, FTP, or SSH Access
  • Applies to: DV
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: Plesk, cPanel, FTP, or SSH Access
  • Applies to: Premium WP / Managed WP Pro, Personal, Elite
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: SFTP, or SSH access
  • Applies to: Managed WordPress
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: SFTP, or SSH access
  • Applies to: Shared Hosting
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: File Manager, FTP, or SSH access

Overview

While working on your websites, you may encounter the need to access what is referred to as the root directory, root folder, document root, or some other variant. The following article contains instructions on how you can view/access this folder.

Instructions

By default, Shared Hosting will make a website’s root directory be …/public_html

1. To access /public_html you can simply log into the cPanel account for the domain and locate the File Manager.

dr_cpanel_filemanager.png

Note:
For cPanel, a root directory may be altered through advanced methods, such as SSH. If you believe your website's document root is no the default .../public_html, you may want to contact your website's developer for assistance in determining the root directory.

Instructions

For the Grid, a website's root directory is the …/html folder. This is located in the file path /domains/example.com/html. The root directory can be viewed/accessed through File Manager, FTP, or SSH.

Method 1 - Accessing the root directory through the File Manger.

1. To start, you will click on the blue ADMIN button next to your Grid server.

dr_admin.png

2. After clicking on the ADMIN button, look for the FILE MANAGEMENT box and click on File Manager.

dr_filemanager.png

3. Once you are in the File Manager, click on the /domains folder.

dr_domains.png

4. Once in the /domains folder, look for your website and click on that folder.

dr_example.png

5. Once you are in your website's folder, look for /html.

dr_html.png


That’s it! You will now be in your root directory …/html.

Method 2- FTP or SSH

If you want to access your root directory over FTP or SSH, feel free to review our additional guides below:

Instructions

For WordPress hosting the root directory is the …/html folder.

The root directory can be accessed through SFTP, SSH, or the File Manager.

The only method to access your site folders is through SFTP or SSH.

Plesk

By default Plesk will make a website’s document root be …/httpdocs. However, due to the customization of a Plesk server, a websites document root may be have been altered. To confirm the document root you can log into Plesk.

1. Once you are logged into Plesk, look on the left side and select Domains
(Note: depending on your Plesk version this might also be called Websites & Domains)

dr_pleskdomains.png

2. Once you see your list of domains, click on your desired domain.

dr_plesk_example.png

3. Once you are at your domains control panel you can look for Website at: to see the root directory. You can also click on the folder or File Manager to view the inside of the root directory.

dr_plesk_root.png

cPanel

By default cPanel will make a website’s root directory be …/public_html

1. To access /public_html you can simply log into the cPanel account for the domain and locate the File Manager.

dr_cpanel_filemanager.png

Note:
For cPanel, a root directory may be altered through advanced methods, such as SSH. If you believe your website's document root is no the default .../public_html, you may want to contact your website's developer for assistance in determining the root directory.

FTP or SSH

If you want to access your root directory over FTP or SSH, feel free to review our additional guides below:

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