I received a dm yesterday on twitter about installing new themes via cpanel, so thought I’d do a quick ‘how to’ for the cpanel version as well as simply uploading them in your dashboard (which was a new feature in WordPress 2.8). I have a tendency to just install them through cpanel since I’m already there, using Fantastico to install WordPress.
So, this won’t be a very wordy post- it will have more pics than words- which is kind of what it needs! 
Log into your cpanel, then go into ‘File Manager':
Once you’re in your File Manager, go into ‘wp-content':
From here, you’ll see a ‘themes’ folder – click on that.
Once you’re in your themes folder, you should only see the classic and default (unless of course you’ve already installed other themes…..in which case you don’t need this tutorial! ).
Go to the menu bar above the folders, and select upload. **NOTE** When installing a theme you have to install it in a zip /compressed file. Once it’s uploaded, you can extract it (then delete the zip version):
Once it’s uploaded, you’ll see the theme in the list of them folders – but the icon will be a box or another version of a compressed file. Now extract it (You have to check the box next to the zip folder to get the extract option to become clickable):
Once you’ve extracted it, the new theme will be in file folder just like the classic and default. Then just delete the zip file as you don’t need it.
Now, simply go into your dashboard, click on Appearance, click on the new theme and simply activate it! (The ‘Activate’ will show up in the upper right hand corner).
That’s it for cpanel.
Now for the REALLY easy method….using your Dashboard! Remember – this is only available if you’re using WordPress 2.8 or higher.
Go into Appearance in your Dashboard and select “Add New Themes”.
You can search WordPress.org for themes, or upload a theme from your computer- which is what we’re going to do:
Now you’re going to upload the theme from your computer (also in a zip/compressed file) and click ‘Install Now’
Once you’ve installed your new theme, you will get the option to preview or activate the theme. Just activate the theme and you’re ready to go!
So, you can see that installing the theme through the Dashboard is WAY easier……if you haven’t upgraded to 2.8, you should go ahead and upgrade (plus it will get rid of that pesky message at the top of your dashboard which is constantly asking you to upgrade). Just make sure that you do a COMPLETE back up (download the backup to your computer) before you upgrade. Just to be safe!
Hope this helps!
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