[HOW TO] Free SSL & WordPress website

[patco]

Looks good and easy to setup. Thank you for the great share!

 

[Gimmicgaming]

Thank you so much I'm actually migrating the new motorhead website to a new VPS and I was worried about the SSL being well, not secure. Thanks for the advice!

 

[mrankin]

I'm glad you got this working and thanks for keeping us updated with your solution.

Had issues again this morning, so tested from my VPS and it was fine on there. Deleted my cache, history and cookies in my browser and then all was good again. Suggest anyone seeing SSL issues do this as their first troubleshooting test (along with clearing the DNS cache 'ipconfig /flushdns' for Windows)

 

[srb888]

Thank you, OP, had been wanting for months to know about this issue. Though I did everything you said, even had a new WP installation on a old and unused domain I have, and having done the changes to my GoDaddy's account's DNS settings more than 36 hours ago, I am still facing some problems.

At present, after about 36 hours, I can see my https WordPress site as it should, but when I do a /wp-admin, the error I get is:
CHROME:

Error message (on Chrome):

This webpage has a redirect loop

ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS
The webpage at [https://mysite.com/wp-admin] has resulted in too many redirects. Clearing your cookies for this site or allowing third-party cookies may fix the problem. If not, it is possibly a server configuration issue and not a problem with your computer.


I am looking for solution on Google right now, and am hopeful to find it.

FIREFOX:
Also, in Firefox where I started doing the changes, there too the error message is:

Error message:

The page isn't redirecting properly

Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.
This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.

CMD window:
I have done the ipconfig/flushdns, ipconfig/release, ipconfig/renew etc many times in this period.

CLOUDFLARE:
The DNS Settings on cloudflare account:

Qt.1:
The DNS still shows the old ip address (of the old host this site's DNS settings were set to). Shouldn't it show the new (cloudflare IP address) by now, after 36 hours?
I have set the cloudflare icons to orange too.

GoDaddy:
The GoDaddy account's DNS new details show that the nameservers are of cloudflare's.


My Cpanel:
Addon domain details show that the said domain is not redirected.


Qt.2:
Now how long do I have to wait for that problem to resolve if the issue is on server side, and not a problem on my PC?

And what can I do in the meanwhile, or if the issue isn't solved even after 48 hours (another 12 hours to go)?

The WP site was installed new, and now I cannot add any plugins to it as I cannot log in to the wp-admin...

Will keep reading, try finding, and hoping that everything settles smoothly. The https means a lot to my son who has some unfinished business with his Android app completing his 1st $100 on Adsense. Of course he is earning a lot through his sw-development+web-designing job, and through freelance jobs, but getting the first Google Adsense cheque is another feather in his cap!

He said (sometime back) that he needs the https on his site to get his Android app working again... It breaks my heart to see him waiting eternally for a working solution, and I feel that OP has provided it at last. Just a matter of few hours now.

TY to OP, and Good luck to all others!

 

[Zwielicht]

Thank you, OP, had been wanting for months to know about this issue. Though I did everything you said, even had a new WP installation on a old and unused domain I have, and having done the changes to my GoDaddy's account's DNS settings more than 36 hours ago, I am still facing some problems.

At present, after about 36 hours, I can see my https wordpress site as it should, but when I do a /wp-admin, the error I get is:
CHROME:

Error message (on Chrome):

This webpage has a redirect loop

ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS
The webpage at [https://mysite.com/wp-admin] has resulted in too many redirects. Clearing your cookies for this site or allowing third-party cookies may fix the problem. If not, it is possibly a server configuration issue and not a problem with your computer.

I had that same issue where I couldn't log into my Wordpress dashboard due to the redirect loop. It happened right after I disabled the Flexible SSL plugin (which corrects that issue), so I had to go back to my domain registrar, transfer the DNS back to my host, enable the plugin, and then transfer the DNS back to Cloudflare. If I remember correctly, this issue also appeared when I enabled another plugin which redirected the login URL to another one, so I disabled that when I was setting everything up and enabled it after I finished.

 

[sikandar]

Great share. Thanks for the info

 

[acces48]

Great method bro!! thanks for share

 

[M4XW3LL]

Update - I changed the site back to http://blah-blah instead of https://blah-blah in the wp_options table of the database and am now able to login to wp-admin again. Suspect that the last thing to do would be to change those settings.

Further Update - I completed all other settings without an issue. Unable to load my site on https://blah-blah.com getting a CloudFlare SORRY! error. Changed my general site settings to https again, and get the same SORRY! error on all pages. Will once again change the site settings back to http://blah-blah.com and wait 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect I guess.

I have the same problem, but in my case it's a bit different since I'm not using any subdomains but still get that error on my main domain. Should I wait for the DNS to be updated and then change my site settings to https?

 

[srb888]

Perfectly working now! Thank you very much!
I had installed the Flexible SSL plugin but hadn't activated that!!! lol. Another mistake was that I hadn't selected Development mode: On, so it took the default as OFF.

This time, I kept the nameservers pointing to Cloudflare, and in the cpanel, simply removed the prev WP installation (it was new and fresh, and was without any useful data) and then reinstalled it, which gave me another fresh WP to work on, where I was able to reinstall the 2 plugins, and do careful activation as shown in the OP.

My HTTPS site is now working perfectly as it should, and immediately after the above was done.

TY both (you and the OP) of you!

I had that same issue where I couldn't log into my Wordpress dashboard due to the redirect loop. It happened right after I disabled the Flexible SSL plugin (which corrects that issue), so I had to go back to my domain registrar, transfer the DNS back to my host, enable the plugin, and then transfer the DNS back to Cloudflare. If I remember correctly, this issue also appeared when I enabled another plugin which redirected the login URL to another one, so I disabled that when I was setting everything up and enabled it after I finished.

 

[pxoxrxn]

I had installed the Flexible SSL plugin but hadn't activated that!!! lol.

I was going to suggest that might be the problem. Glad you got it working.

 

[srb888]

Usually I follow instruction very carefully, but that time my mind was wandering and that created the mess, even though you had given all steps in the best possible way. Sorry I still messed it up then.

 

[umerjutt00]

Just a heads-up that this free ssl will not work on all operating systems especially Windows XP or older.

https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/203041594-What-browsers-work-with-Universal-SSL-

 

[M4XW3LL]

Can you add more than one website to the same free cloudflare account?

Edit:
I was just wondering what happens after the certificate expires. I mean, I know that people get warned while trying to enter your website, but wasn't quite sure if that's the case with cloudflare SSL. Since they are free, do they get automatically extended?

P.S. Look what just happened to instagram:

https://twitter.com/TheNextWeb/status/593772317211303936

 

[Pipelin]

There is some issue using this on blogs. Actually i think there is bug on fb and if you use this (https://site.com/img.png) your image will be shown on debug page og:image, but image will be not shown on shares.

For example:
If you share some article and your site not use SSL your content will be share on fb like on the picture bellow:

But if you use SSL and your images is add as featured (https://) than FB will shown same article like this picture bellow:

EDIT:

It was already reported to FB: https://developers.facebook.com/bugs/978421888869140/

Here is example of article where og:image is working but when you share article it will not show:
https://developers.facebook.com/too...//faithtap.com/2975/home-free-a-cappella-mom/

 

[spearce000]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[srb888]

Yes. Like this:

Can you add more than one website to the same free cloudflare account?

Edit:
I was just wondering what happens after the certificate expires. I mean, I know that people get warned while trying to enter your website, but wasn't quite sure if that's the case with cloudflare SSL. Since they are free, do they get automatically extended?

P.S. Look what just happened to instagram:

 

[usong725]

Awesome thread. Because of this, i moved all my sites to cloudfare.

Only encountered problem on 1 of the sites. It turned out, the IP address that was automatically fetched by cloudfare was the IP of my old hosting server. I did not notice it initally because it is almost same with the new server and the other sites were working properly.

So make sure that it is pointing to the correct IP when you add a site.

Anyway, do you have step by step procedure on how to add ssl to static non-wordpress site (html/php)?

 

[arnosv]

amazing share dude, thanks

 

[pxoxrxn]

Anyway, do you have step by step procedure on how to add ssl to static non-wordpress site (html/php)?

For static HTML, simply add it to CF and force HTTPS with the page rule after 24 hours.

As for a custom PHP script, that will have to be another day I'm sorry.

 

[nutserious]

Is there a SERP boost if we use SSL?