When choosing a host, be aware that PrestaShop requires at least PHP 5 and MySQL 5 to function correctly and it doesn’t support shared SSL. It can work with MySQL 4, but some features like product duplication will not work correctly. The exact PHP version is also important, since there are known issues with using PHP versions earlier than 5.2 with PrestaShop, and also with PHP 5.2.1, PHP 5.2.6 (on 64-bit servers) and PHP 5.2.9.
The following hosts are known to work well with PrestaShop without any extra configuration steps: Hostgator, Bluehost and Vidahost. The following hosts are known to require extra configuration steps before they will work with PrestaShop: 1&1, Free, OVH, and GoDaddy. For these hosts, after the normal step of creating a .htaccess file with chmod 666 permissions in the root directory of PrestaShop, then going to Tools > Generators, you will need to enter the following additional lines in “Specific configuration” text field before clicking the “Generate .htaccess file” button. If you are still having problems, ask your host for help to configure your server. There is a System Administrator Guide that may help your host to configure your server.
Go to Tools > Generators and add the following line as the "Specific configuration" to enable PHP 5:
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
And in the generated .htaccess file, add the following line after RewriteEngine on to enable URL rewriting to work:
RewriteBase /
Go to Tools > Generators and add the following line as the "Specific configuration" to enable PHP:
php 1
Go to Tools > Generators and add the following lines as the "Specific configuration" to enable PHP 5 and turn off the PHP register global option:
SetEnv PHP_VER 5
SetEnv REGISTER_GLOBALS 0
Warning: Do not use chmod 777, OVH only allow chmod 755
To Change Your Default PHP Language
It may take up to 24 hours for the change to be processed by the hosting server.
Choose the Linux option from GoDaddy, since it has fewer problems with PrestaShop than the Windows option.
There are also problems with PrestaShop’s contact form, since GoDaddy requires all emails to be sent from an email address from your domain, and PrestaShop sends contact form emails from the email address of the customer.
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