Build a team wiki: install MediaWiki with Softaculous

MediaWiki, the software behind Wikipedia, is a solid choice for an internal knowledge base, product documentation or a community wiki. Softaculous installs it on cPanel hosting in a few minutes. Most of its configuration lives in one file, LocalSettings.php, so this guide shows the key lines to change.

Before you start

• A subdomain such as wiki.example.com with a valid SSL certificate.
• A supported PHP version with intl, mbstring, xml and fileinfo enabled in Select PHP Version.
• Decide who may read and edit: everyone, registered users, or only invited staff.

Install MediaWiki

1. Open cPanel → Software → Softaculous Apps Installer, search for MediaWiki (category Wikis) and click Install.
2. Installation URL: https://, the subdomain, empty directory.
3. Set the wiki name, admin username and a strong password.
4. Click Install, then open the wiki and log in.

Lock down editing

A public wiki that anyone can edit attracts spam within days. Open LocalSettings.php in the wiki folder with File Manager and add at the end:

Only logged-in users can edit:

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;

Disable open registration (admins create accounts):

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;

For a private internal wiki, also block reading for anonymous visitors:

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['read'] = false;
$wgWhitelistRead = [ 'Special:UserLogin' ];

Create user accounts at Special:CreateAccount while logged in as admin.

Enable file uploads

$wgEnableUploads = true;
$wgFileExtensions = [ 'png', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'gif', 'webp', 'pdf' ];

Uploads are stored in the images folder and count toward your disk quota. The maximum size follows PHP's upload_max_filesize.

Email

Password resets and watchlist notifications need working email. Set the sender and SMTP in LocalSettings.php:

$wgEmergencyContact = 'wiki@example.com';
$wgPasswordSender = 'wiki@example.com';
$wgSMTP = [
  'host' => 'ssl://server-hostname',
  'IDHost' => 'example.com',
  'port' => 465,
  'auth' => true,
  'username' => 'wiki@example.com',
  'password' => 'MAILBOX-PASSWORD'
];

Create the mailbox first in Email Accounts.

Updates and backups

• Enable minor auto-upgrades in Softaculous; see auto-upgrade settings.
• Before major MediaWiki upgrades, back up with Softaculous; after upgrading, run php maintenance/run.php update (older versions: php maintenance/update.php) in Terminal if the wiki asks for it.
• Extensions in extensions/ must be updated to match the core version.

Troubleshooting

• Blank page after editing LocalSettings.php: a PHP syntax error; check the error log and fix the last change.
• Spam accounts: disable registration as above and delete spam users and pages.
• Uploads fail: check the extension list and PHP upload limits.

Next steps

• Install other apps
• Subdomains