How to Access Softaculous in DirectAdmin

Softaculous is the one-click application installer that puts WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop, Moodle and several hundred other applications onto your hosting without any manual setup. On Noiz shared hosting it is already installed at server level, so there is nothing for you to enable. The only question is where DirectAdmin puts it, and that is the part people get stuck on, because DirectAdmin's Evolution interface does not always show it in the same place.

This guide covers what you actually see on a Noiz DirectAdmin account: where the entry sits in the Evolution menu, the fastest way to find it when it is not on screen, the two domain selectors that decide where your application ends up, and what it means when Softaculous is missing altogether. It does not repeat the DirectAdmin or Softaculous manuals, which are linked below for the detail.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against the current DirectAdmin release and its Evolution interface, and the current Softaculous release. This guide is written for Noiz hosting and is kept current against DirectAdmin and Softaculous. It complements, and does not replace, the official documentation linked below.

Official Documentation Reference

• DirectAdmin Docs: the Evolution skin
• DirectAdmin Docs: general usage and access levels
• Softaculous Docs: the end user guide
• Softaculous Docs: installing a script
• The full Softaculous application library

Prerequisites

• An active Noiz shared hosting account on the DirectAdmin platform.
• Your DirectAdmin login URL, username and password, all of which are in your Noiz welcome email and available again from your Noiz client area.
• At least one domain already added to the account. Softaculous can only install onto a domain, subdomain or alias that DirectAdmin already knows about.

First, Confirm Which Panel Your Account Uses

Noiz runs two shared hosting platforms and they use different control panels. DirectAdmin runs on the Ireland platform; Plesk runs on the South African platform. Softaculous is present on both, but the route to it is completely different, so it is worth thirty seconds of certainty before you start hunting for a menu entry that was never going to be there.

Your welcome email names the panel and gives you the login URL for it. If you no longer have it, log in to the Noiz client area, open the hosting service, and the control panel login is shown against the service. If the panel you land on has a dark left-hand sidebar with sections such as Account Manager, E-mail Manager and Extra Features, you are on DirectAdmin and this article applies. If you land on Plesk instead, use Applications in the left-hand menu and see What Is Softaculous? for the platform overview.

Open Softaculous in DirectAdmin

Step 1: Log in and check your access level

Log in to DirectAdmin with the URL and credentials from your welcome email.

This is the single most common reason Softaculous appears to be missing, and it catches resellers and anyone whose account was created with more than one role. DirectAdmin has three access levels: Admin, Reseller and User. Softaculous is a user-level tool, so it is only on the menu at User level. If your account has more than one level, DirectAdmin may drop you at the highest one, and the menu you are looking at simply does not contain it.

Look at the top right of the page. If there is a level switcher showing Admin or Reseller, change it to User and the menu rebuilds. Accounts with a single role have no switcher at all, which is the normal case for a standard Noiz shared hosting account, and you can move straight on.

Step 2: Look in Extra Features

Softaculous is a plugin rather than a built-in DirectAdmin feature, and Evolution groups plugins together. In the left-hand sidebar, open Extra Features and look for Softaculous Apps Installer.

The label is not fixed. Depending on the Softaculous release and how the plugin has been presented, the same tool can appear as any of the following, and all of them open Softaculous:

• Softaculous Apps Installer
• Softaculous Auto Installer, or simply Softaculous
• A short list of individual applications, such as WordPress, Joomla and PrestaShop, each with its own entry. Clicking any one of them opens Softaculous with that application already selected, which saves a step if it is the one you wanted.

Evolution also remembers a collapsed sidebar between visits, and a section you collapsed weeks ago stays collapsed. If Extra Features looks like a heading with nothing under it, click the heading itself to expand it.

Step 3: Use the navigation filter when it is not obvious

Scrolling the sidebar is the slow way to do this, and it fails whenever the entry has been renamed or moved. The filter box at the top of the Evolution sidebar is the reliable route. Click into it and start typing; the menu narrows as you type and you click the result.

Two things about the filter are worth knowing, because they turn a "it is not there" into a result:

• Type a fragment, not the whole word. Try soft first. If nothing comes back, try install. The filter matches the label that is actually on the menu, so if the plugin is presented as Apps Installer without the Softaculous name in front of it, searching for the full product name returns nothing while install finds it immediately.
• An empty result is meaningful. The filter searches the whole menu for your current access level, not just the visible part of it. If both soft and install return nothing, the tool genuinely is not on your menu, and Step 1 or the troubleshooting section below is where to look next.

Step 4: Confirm Softaculous has actually loaded

Softaculous opens inside the DirectAdmin page rather than in a new tab or a separate window. You know you are in the right place when the DirectAdmin sidebar is still down the left, and the main area has changed to a second, narrower column of application categories such as Blogs, Portals/CMS and E-Commerce, with a row of the most popular applications across the top.

A short delay on the first load of the day is normal, because Softaculous checks in with its update service and refreshes the application list. A blank white panel that never resolves is not normal, and the troubleshooting section covers it.

To leave Softaculous, use the DirectAdmin sidebar rather than the browser back button. Because the interface is loaded inside the panel, going back can land you part way through a form you had already submitted.

The Two Domain Selectors, and Which One Decides

This is the part that quietly goes wrong, and it is worth understanding before you install anything, because putting an application on the wrong domain means uninstalling and starting again.

There are two separate selectors in play, and they are not the same control:

• The DirectAdmin domain selector. Evolution shows the currently selected domain near the top of the page, and it applies across the whole panel. Every domain-scoped tool you open, including Softaculous, inherits it. Change it here and DirectAdmin remembers the choice for the rest of the session.
• The Softaculous Choose Domain field. This sits on the install form itself, alongside Choose Protocol. It is pre-filled from whatever DirectAdmin had selected, and it is the one that actually determines where the files and database go.

The practical rule is short: the DirectAdmin selector sets the default, the Softaculous field makes the decision. Read the Choose Domain value on the install form every single time, immediately before you click Install. If you have one domain on the account the two can never disagree. If you have several, they disagree the moment you open Softaculous from a bookmark or come back to a tab you left open earlier.

Two related points on that same form:

• The list only contains names DirectAdmin already has. Domains, subdomains, aliases and pointers appear in Choose Domain only once they exist in DirectAdmin. If the target is missing, add it first and reload Softaculous. For a subdomain, see How to Add a Subdomain in DirectAdmin.
• Clear the In Directory field to install at the top level. Softaculous pre-fills it with a folder name such as wp, which would put the site at yourdomain.com/wp rather than yourdomain.com. Replace yourdomain.com with your own domain throughout. Empty the field unless you genuinely want the application in a subfolder.

Shared Hosting Versus a Self-Managed VPS

Softaculous is licensed per server, and that licence is what decides whether the tool exists at all. The distinction matters when you are comparing Noiz products:

• Noiz shared hosting. Softaculous is installed and licensed on the servers, and the cost is part of the hosting. Nothing to buy, nothing to install, and it is available to every account on the server.
• A self-managed VPS. The server is yours, and so is the software on it. Softaculous is not included, and a DirectAdmin licence does not cover it. If you want it on a VPS you buy a Softaculous licence for that server and install it yourself, against your own control panel. Pricing and licence types are on the Softaculous pricing page, and the vendor's DirectAdmin installation guide covers the server-side work.

If you are on a VPS and you would rather not run the installer yourself, ask Noiz support about a managed plan before you buy anything, so the licence is sized correctly for what you actually need.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: the filter finds nothing for soft or install. Check your access level first, as described in Step 1, because a Reseller or Admin menu will never list it. If you are definitely at User level and it is still absent, the account is on a server without the plugin, or on a VPS without a licence. Open a ticket with Noiz support quoting your domain name and the support team will confirm what your service includes.

Symptom: the Softaculous panel loads blank, or spins indefinitely. Almost always a browser extension interfering with content loaded inside the panel. Try a private window with extensions disabled, then a different browser, before reporting it. An ad blocker or a script blocker is the usual culprit.

Symptom: a licence warning appears in place of the application list. This is a server-level condition and there is nothing you can fix from inside your account. Report it to Noiz support and quote the exact wording of the message.

Symptom: the domain you want is not in the Choose Domain list. It has not been added to DirectAdmin yet, or it was added after Softaculous was opened. Add the domain or subdomain, then reload the Softaculous page so the list is rebuilt.

Symptom: the installer refuses to continue because the target directory is not empty. Softaculous will not write over existing files, which is protecting you rather than obstructing you. Choose a different directory, or clear the existing contents in File Manager first, taking a backup before you delete anything.

Symptom: the application installs but shows a PHP error, or refuses to install on version grounds. The account is running a PHP branch the application does not support. Change it and try again: see How to Change the PHP Version via CloudLinux Selector in DirectAdmin.

Symptom: an install fails partway and leaves files behind. Open the Softaculous Installations list, remove the broken entry so that the files, the database and the database user are all cleaned up together, then install again. Installing a second copy on top of the wreckage is what turns a small problem into a support ticket.

If the Server Also Offers Another Installer

Some DirectAdmin servers carry a second auto-installer alongside Softaculous. Both will install the same applications, and neither one recognises or manages sites created by the other. Pick one installer for a given site and stay with it, otherwise upgrades and backups end up split between two tools that each believe they are in charge.

Related Guides

• What Is Softaculous?
• How to Install WordPress with Softaculous
• How to Access Softaculous in cPanel
• How to Add a Subdomain in DirectAdmin

Need a Hand?

If Softaculous is not on your DirectAdmin menu and the checks above have not explained why, open a ticket from your Noiz client area with your domain name and a note of which access level you are logged in at. If you would rather an application was installed and configured for you on the right domain first time, say so in the ticket and Noiz support will set it up on your behalf.