Installing Downloaded Plugins in WordPress

Some plugins—especially premium or third-party ones like Solid Security Pro or Solid Backups — NextGen—aren’t available through the WordPress.org plugin repository. In these cases, the plugin is provided as a downloadable .zip file and must be installed manually.

There are three supported methods for installing a plugin manually:

• Uploading via the WordPress admin interface
• Uploading via (S)FTP
• Uploading via the Solid Central Dashboard (for Solid Central users)

Option 1: Upload via WordPress Admin #

This method is the most common and requires no access to your server or FTP.

Steps: #

1. Log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
3. Click the Upload Plugin button at the top of the screen.
4. Select the .zip file you downloaded (do not unzip it).
5. Click Install Now.
6. After installation, click Activate.

When to Use This Method: #

• You have full admin access to your WordPress dashboard.
• The file size of the plugin .zip is within the server’s upload limit.

Option 2: Upload via (S)FTP #

This method provides more control and is useful when server restrictions prevent uploads via the dashboard.

Steps: #

1. Unzip the downloaded plugin .zip file.
2. Open your preferred FTP or SFTP client (e.g., FileZilla).
3. Connect to your site using your (S)FTP credentials.
   (If you’re unsure of these credentials, contact your hosting provider.)
4. Navigate to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
5. Upload the entire unzipped plugin folder to this location.
6. Once uploaded, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
7. Go to Plugins, find the new plugin, and click Activate.

When to Use This Method: #

• The WordPress dashboard upload method fails due to server limitations.
• You need to install or troubleshoot a plugin outside of the dashboard.
• You are managing files directly in staging or custom server environments.

Option 3: Upload via Solid Central #

If your site is connected to Solid Central, plugins and themes can also be installed using Central’s Install Screen.

Steps: #

1. Log in to your Solid Central Dashboard.
2. Navigate to the Install Screen.
3. Select the site(s) where the plugin or theme should be installed.
4. Click the Upload tab and choose your .zip file.
5. Once the upload completes, choose either:
   • Install: Uploads the plugin without activating it.
   • Install & Activate: Uploads and activates the plugin in one step.

When to Use This Method: #

• You are managing multiple sites from Solid Central.
• You want to perform remote plugin installation without logging into each site.

Troubleshooting Installation Issues #

“The link you followed has expired.” #

This message usually indicates that the .zip file exceeds the maximum upload size set by your hosting environment.

Recommended solutions:

• Ask your hosting provider to increase the following PHP directives:
  • upload_max_filesize
  • post_max_size
• Increase the max_execution_time to prevent a timeout during plugin installation.
  See: How to Increase max_execution_time in PHP

If the above changes are not possible or do not resolve the issue, use Option 2 (S)FTP as a reliable fallback.