After installation, opening your panel URL for the first time takes you to the Setup Wizard. This is a one-time process that takes about 2 minutes. You cannot skip it — every step is required before you can use the panel.
Prerequisites: You've completed the Installation Guide and your panel is running at
https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8443.Open your browser and navigate to:
https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8443You will see a browser security warning. This is because the panel uses a self-signed SSL certificate. This is completely normal and safe for initial setup.
- Chrome: Click "Advanced" then "Proceed to ... (unsafe)"
- Firefox: Click "Advanced" then "Accept the Risk and Continue"
- Safari: Click "Show Details" then "visit this website"
- Edge: Click "Advanced" then "Continue to ... (unsafe)"
After accepting the certificate, you'll see the Setup Wizard welcome screen with an animated background.
Before starting, you can change the wizard language. Click the language selector in the top-right corner. 30 languages are available: English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and more.
The language you choose here will be your default panel language. You can change it later.
You'll see the Panelica logo with the tagline "Isolated Control Architecture." Click Begin Setup to start.
This is the most important step. You're creating the root administrator account for your panel.
Email Address:
- Enter a valid email address
- This will be used for password recovery and system notifications
- Example:
[email protected]
Password:
- Minimum 8 characters
- A strength meter shows your password quality (Weak / Medium / Strong)
- For a strong password, use 12+ characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters
- You can click the Generate button to create a secure random password automatically
- Use the eye icon to show/hide the password
Confirm Password:
- Type the same password again
- Both fields must match exactly
Write down your password and store it somewhere safe. If you lose it, you'll need server SSH access to reset it.
Click Save Credentials to continue.
You have two options here:
Option A — Enter a License Key:
- If you purchased a license at panelica.com, enter your license key in the format
PNLC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX - The key is validated against the Panelica license server in real time
- If valid, your plan name and features will be displayed
Option B — Start Free Trial:
- Click "Get a license key" to visit the pricing page, or
- Click Skip to start with a free trial
- The free trial gives you 14 days of full access to almost all features
- No credit card required
You can always add or change your license key later from Panel Settings.
The default panel port is 8443. This is the port you use to access the panel in your browser.
- If you're happy with port 8443, just click Next to skip this step
- If you want to change it, enter a port number between 1024 and 65535
- Common alternatives: 2083, 2087, 9090
- Make sure the port you choose is open in your cloud provider's firewall
Note: If you change the port, your panel URL will change to
https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:NEW_PORT. Bookmark the new URL.- Read through the Terms of Service (available in your selected language)
- You can click the fullscreen button for easier reading
- Scroll to the bottom of the terms — the accept checkbox only becomes active after scrolling
- Check the "I accept" checkbox
- Click Accept and Continue
If you decline, you'll see a "Thank You for Stopping By" screen. You can click "Changed My Mind" to go back and accept.
You'll see a success message confirming everything is configured:
- Root account created
- License activated (or trial started)
- Panel port confirmed
- Terms accepted
Click Go to Login to proceed to the login page.
On the login page:
- Username:
root - Password: The password you set in Step 2
After logging in, you'll land on the Server Dashboard — a real-time overview of your server's health, services, and resources.
During the Setup Wizard, the following happens automatically:
- A root user account is created in the database with your email and encrypted password
- Your license key is validated against the Panelica license server (or a trial is provisioned)
- Feature flags are activated based on your license plan
- The panel port is updated in nginx configuration if changed
- A setup completion flag is set — the wizard will never appear again
You're logged in and looking at the dashboard. Now learn what to configure first: First Steps After Setup
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Questions? Ask in General Discussion.
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