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  1. cPanel & WHM Documentation
  2. cPanel
  3. Domains
  4. Create a New Domain
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Create a New Domain

Valid for versions 138 through the latest version

Version:

110

130

132

134

136

138

Last modified: 2026 July 22

Looking for this interface?
Note:

Your hosting provider can enable or disable this interface in WHM's Feature Manager interface (WHM >> Home >> Packages >> Feature Manager).

Overview

In order for you to create a new domain, your hosting provider must enable at least one of the following features in WHM’s Feature Manager interface (WHM » Home » Packages » Feature Manager):

Domain Description
Addon Domains An additional domain name that a cPanel account owns. The system stores each addon domain in its own configurable directory.
Aliases A second domain that points to a Main Domain. For example, both http://www.cpanel.net/ and http://www.cpanel.com/ point to the same website, because cpanel.com is a domain alias for cpanel.net. This makes your website available from another domain name.
Subdomains A subsection of a website that exists as a subdirectory in the website owner’s home folder. For example, for the example.com domain, the subdomain URL could appear as subdomain.example.com.
Note:

  • To create your domain’s DNS records, use cPanel’s Zone Editor interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Zone Editor). Contact your hosting provider to create or update any records that you cannot create or update in this interface.

  • You cannot register a domain in cPanel, or update or renew a domain’s registration. To find out how to register a domain, or update or renew a domain’s registration, contact your hosting provider or read our How to Identify Your Registrar documentation.

  • When you create an addon domain or subdomain, the system automatically configures PHP error logging for the domain. The system enables the log_errors directive and sets the value of the error_log directive to ~username/logs/php.error.log, where username is the cPanel account’s username and ~ represents the account’s home directory. You can change these values in cPanel’s MultiPHP INI Editor interface (cPanel » Home » Software » MultiPHP INI Editor).

  • cPanel & WHM does not support the following features for accounts with temporary domains:

    • Editing DNS
    • Email services
    • Search Engine Optimization

Create a New Domain

To create a domain, perform the following steps:

  1. Click Create a New Domain. A new interface will appear.

  2. Select the type of domain that you wish to create. You can select from the following two types of domains:

    Domain Type Description
    Registered domain A domain that you own and have registered with a domain registrar. Use this option to add an existing domain to your account or to create a subdomain for an existing domain.
    Temporary domain A provisional domain. Use this option to start building your website immediately without waiting to register or purchase a domain.
    Note:

    If your hosting provider has enabled the feature, you will also see the Purchase a domain option. To read how to use this option, read our How to purchase a domain from the Domains interface documentation.

Create a registered domain

To create a registered domain, perform the following steps:

  1. Select Registered Domain.
  2. Enter a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the Domain text box.
    • To create a new domain, enter the new domain name. For example, example.com.
    • To create a subdomain, enter a new name followed by a period (.) and then the website’s domain. For example, enter subdomain.example.com to create a subdomain of example.com.
  3. Optionally, select the Share document root checkbox to share the listed document root with the new domain (for example, /home/fantom/public_html). When this option is active, the new domain serves the same content as the existing domain. This setting is permanent.
  4. Optionally, you can specify the directory where you want to store the domain’s files (the domain’s document root). To create this directory, deselect the Share document root with “example.com” checkbox, where example.com represents your Main Domain. You cannot create a document root outside of the public_html/ directory. This will create an addon domain. You cannot use the following directories for your domain’s files:
    • The account’s home directory itself (/)
    • Directories outside of the account’s home directory (./ and ../)
    • .cpanel
    • .trash
    • etc
    • mail
    • ssl
    • tmp
    • logs
    • .cphorde
    • .spamassassin
    • .htpasswds
    • var
    • cgi-bin
    • .ssh
    • perl5
    Note:
    • This setting only appears if your hosting provider enables it.
    • The interface automatically populates the remaining text boxes, and we recommend that you use these values. However, you can enter different values in the Document Root (File System Location) and Subdomain text boxes if you want.
  5. Click Submit or click Submit and Create Another.
Note:

Visitors cannot view your subdomain immediately. Changes to DNS records may require two days or more to reach each nameserver on the internet.

Create a temporary domain

To create a temporary domain, perform the following steps:

  1. Click Create a New Domain and select Temporary Domain.
  2. In the Domain Name text box, enter your temporary domain (for example, temporary.example.com).
  3. Click Submit or click Submit and Create Another.

Certificates

When you create a domain or subdomain, the system will attempt to secure that domain with an existing certificate.

  • If no certificate exists, the system will generate a self-signed certificate to secure the new domain.
  • If your hosting provider enables AutoSSL for your account and the server configuration allows this behavior:
    1. The system will add a request for an AutoSSL certificate to secure the new domain.
    2. The system will install the AutoSSL certificate when it becomes available.