Zen Cart v1.3.x:
A – (This step for Zen Cart v1.3.x ONLY: ) Edit /admin/includes/configure.php
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re using Zen Cart v1.5.0 or newer, you can skip this step, and proceed to step B to rename the folder using your FTP program. With v1.5.0 there’s no need to edit your configure.php file when renaming your admin folder.
Using your FTP program, download a copy of your /admin/includes/configure.php file to your computer.
Using a simple text editor like notepad (or better yet, use Notepad++ or TextWrangler), change all instances of admin to your chosen new admin folder-name.
For maximum security, you may want to consider that new folder name should include numbers and a combination of upper and lower case letters. The longer you make this folder’s name the more secure it will be.
When editing, make sure you leave all the / (slashes) alone.
DO NOT USE SEARCH-AND-REPLACE TO DO THESE EDITS!!!!!!!!!!!
Change ONLY THE WORD admin, in 3 places, AS SHOWN HERE:
Change this section:
define(‘DIR_WS_ADMIN’, ‘/admin/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_HTTPS_ADMIN’, ‘/admin/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);
And this section:
define(‘DIR_FS_ADMIN’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/admin/’);
define(‘DIR_FS_CATALOG’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/’);
You will end up with something that looks like this:
define(‘DIR_WS_ADMIN’, ‘/mysecretadminarea/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_HTTPS_ADMIN’, ‘/mysecretadminarea/’);
define(‘DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);
And:
define(‘DIR_FS_ADMIN’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/mysecretadminarea/’);
define(‘DIR_FS_CATALOG’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/’);
Now, you must upload the changes back to the server, using your FTP program.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your configure.php file should be set as Read-Only for normal use. So, you’ll need to make it Writable before you’ll be able to upload/save your changes to the file. (In *some* cases, your server might require you to DELETE the file from your server before you can upload the edited version to replace it.)
Be sure to make it Read-Only again when finished. Often you can right-click the file in your FTP program and change the permissions settings there. There’s another FAQ article on how to change file permissions on different hosting servers.
B – Rename the Admin folder
Using your FTP software or your webhost’s File Manager, find your Zen Cart /admin/ directory. Rename the directory to match the settings you just made in step A.
NOTE: DO NOT advertise this new foldername, else you defeat the entire purpose of renaming it. And DO NOT EVER put it in your robots.txt file!
C – Login to your admin using the new URL
To login to your admin system you will now have to visit a new URL that matches the new name used in steps A and B above.
For example instead of visiting www.example.com/admin/ visit http://www.example.com/NeW-NamE4u/
Use of SSL is highly recommended to protect your and your customers information. To enable SSL on your site, see this article: http://tutorials.zen-cart.com/index.php?article=14
D – What if it doesn’t work?
If it doesn’t work, then you’ve missed one or more of the steps. THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE is ignoring the read-only vs writable alert in BRIGHT RED TEXT in step A.