Setting the Moodle login to work over HTTPS

When loging into Moodle by default, the login information is transmitted over an HTTP connection. HTTP connections are not secure connections and a perpetrator could snoop on the network connection and potentially gain access to your username and password. To prevent this, you may want to consider setting the Moodle login to work over HTTPS. HTTPS is an encrypted connection that encrypts the data in transit over the network, preventing the data from being read by hackers. Moodle 2.3 has a setting that enables the HTTPS connection for the login, while keeping the rest of the website HTTP.

VERY IMPORTANT! Before you set the Login to work on HTTPS, the server that hosts your Moodle site will need to be able to access through an SSL connection. If there is no SSL connection, the LOGIN WILL BREAK, locking you out of your Moodle software. To find out if your server has an ssl connection, visit your site by going to:

https://example.com

You will need to change example.com to your domain where your moodle site is installed. If the server does not have an SSL installed, there will be an error when visiting the site like the following snapshots.

force-ssl-login-connection-failed-moodle

force-ssl-login-untrusted-moodle

For more information on SSL and HTTPS connections, please click here. Now that the details are explained, we can  go through the steps of setting up Moodle for logging in on an HTTPS / SSL connection.

Forcing HTTPS login

  1. Log into the Moodle Dashboard
  2. force-ssl-login-1-moodle

    Navigate to Site administration > Security > HTTP security in the Settings section.

  3. force-ssl-login-2-security-moodle

    On the HTTP security page, select the Use HTTPS for logins and Secure cookies only check boxes. Click Save Changes.


    force-ssl-login-3-final-moodle

    Now when going to the Moodle login the site will go to HTTPS instead of HTTP. If the HTTPS is working correctly, the data will transmit securely.


This concludes the article for Setting the Moodle login to work over HTTPS.

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3 thoughts on “Setting the Moodle login to work over HTTPS

  1. I note that the article is dated Jun 26, 2018 but the query dates from three years earlier.   

    I’m running moodle 3.5.1 – and Security > HTTP security looks quite different to the screenshot displayed here (https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/moodle/moodle-site-security/force-ssl-login?tsrc=rsbedu)

    Perhaps this refers to an older version of moodle?

     

     

     

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