How to enable HTTPS for your website

This guide will explain how to enable HTTPS on your website. For customers using LCN web hosting. 

Let’s get started… 

Enable HTTPS from your LCN account 

With LCN we offer a quick way to set up your redirect straight from your LCN account saving you the hassle of fiddling with your website files or site plugins. 

To do this you will need to… 

1. Log in to your LCN account and move to your Control Panel. 

2. Click on the domain you have added an SSL to. 

3. Click on your hosting package. 

4. Now click SSL Redirect from the options on the left. 

5. Read through the information provided, when you are happy to proceed select Enabled 

6. Lastly click Update 

That’s it! You have now enabled HTTPS.

If you have any problems from this you may wish to disable the feature and perform the redirect manually as outlined below. You may also need to check your site for mixed content as explained in our guide here. 

Enabling HTTPS using .htaccess 

You can configure your site to use HTTPS by using a .htaccess file – for further information on .htaccess files see our guide here. 

Enabling HTTPS for all pages within your site 

1. Create a file using a text editor such as Notepad. 

2. Save the file as: .htaccess (without any additional file extensions). 

3. Enter the following lines of text within the file: 

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.well-known/acme-challenge
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

4. Save the file and upload it to the web folder of your site. 

Enabling HTTPS for a specific folder within your site 

1. Create a file using a text editor such as Notepad. 

2. Save the file as: .htaccess (without any additional file extensions). 

3. Enter the following lines of text within the file, changing the URL within the ‘RewriteRule’ line to set your domain and folder name: 

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} folder
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.yourdomain.com/folder/$1 [R,L]

4. Save the file and upload it to the specified folder you would like to be secured. 

That’s it! You’ve enabled HTTPS on your website.