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For the very first try of your online store made in Zen Cart, I am sure you will encounter this error:

This happens when a user tried to register on your store. In order to fix this kind of error, you should change the settings in the Zen Cart’s Admin area. So first log in your store’s admin area like shown in the image below:

From here you must change the Email Transport method:

Click the row and change the settings on the right side of your screen. Servers running on Windows and MacOS should change this setting to SMTP.

The setting will depend on your e-mail server and other options. If you have your own e-mail server, you must choose the SMTP
or SMTPAUTH.

There are 4 important parameters when using SMTP or SMTPAUTH. You have to include your account mailbox, account password, the mail host, and the mail server port (which is usually port 25).

When you have change these settings, most likely, your users will be able to register on and purchase items on your online store.

Hope this post helps! Thank you for reading my article!

Last time I have promised that I will post an article that will teach you a step by step procedure when installing the Zen Cart™ platform if you want to have your own online store. Well, here it is!

But first and foremost, I want you to know that you must have a copy of the latest version of Zen Cart™. You can download the latest version on their site: www.zen-cart.com. Other web hosting companies like www.godaddy.com provides a built-in zen cart platform as an added feature to attract more customers but not for free of course.

But what if you want to buy only the domain name in godaddy.com, and want to host your Zen Cart™ somewhere else? Then you should know and learn how to fix the DNS (Domain Name Servers) in your domain’s details (I will discuss this on my other articles).

If your web host does not support Zen Cart™, you should upload the latest version of Zen Cart™ platform via FTP. So get the FTP details by visiting or asking your web host.

Now let’s move on how to install the Zen Cart platform. But before you install Zen Cart™, please prepare for the DATABASE name in your web host. You should also obtain your DATABASE Username and DATABASE Password (These are really necessary!).

If possible, try to do it in your localhost first (just for the sake of testing!) so that you will get familiarize with it. But if you are in hurry, this article is enough to guide you on the installation procedure.

Once you have uploaded the latest version of Zen Cart™, use your web browser to go on your own website. Since your Zen Cart™ is not yet installed you are suppose to see the following:

If you see this page on your screen, click the “Click Here” link and proceed on the installation process. Then you should see the following page:

Just Click the “Continue” button,

and then select for the radio button to agree on the Terms and Conditions of GNU General Public License (GPL).

If you click the “Continue” button, you will then see the Zen Cart Setup-System Inspection. From here you will see the cURL settings

(* cURL is a command line tool for transferring files with URL Syntax. I will not discuss this cURL thing here, perhaps on my next articles and blogs.)

(** In this example cURL setting is not properly set up since I just use my localhost.)

as well as the other PHP Settings (see image below):

Then click the “Install” button or click “Re-Check” if you want to check the PHP details and cURL settings once again.

It is also important to prepare the database host, database name, database username and database password. See the image below:

You can also put prefix on table names, SQL Cache method, Database Session and SQL Cache Directory but usually, you do not have to change the settings like the image shown below:

Once you click the “save database settings”, you will then see as it download and create your store’s database tables. (See the Installation in Progress image below)

After the installation and creation of database, you can also set the server settings as well as the SSL settings of your store.

In the server or site setting, you can arrange for the physical path and the desired virtual path.

You may also already include the SSL settings if you already purchased an SSL Certificate for your store. It is ideal that you have an SSL Certificate upon installation. Otherwise, you will do it manually inside the Zen Cart configuration file to make it work.

If you want to have a forum attached to your Zen Cart Store, you can do so by indicating the phpBB directory while installing Zen Cart.

After saving the phpBB settings, you can now proceed on inputing the details of your store.

From here you can put your store name, the owner’s name and e-mail address and other store details.

You can include the demo store when installing. This is good if you want to see actual samples of products, application of discounts, coupons and gift certificates, and many others.

Anyways, you can turn these products off or even delete it if you are already familiar with the store settings.

When you are done with it, you can then proceed on the admin settings like the image below:

Now you are done with the installation! Congratulations!

If you want to visit your store or visit the admin are, just click on the provided button below the page (please see image below).

The default page for Zen Cart is shown below:

And initially, there are important notes indicated above the page like the image shown below:

On my next blog article I will discuss on how to modify the initial settings of your Zen Cart Store. Including how to remove the important notice above the page, change the header logo, modify the box contents and many others.