Install Webmin on Ubuntu 20.04

Webmin is a system administration tool that enables you to manage a web server without the command-line interface (CLI). A popular free cPanel alternative, Webmin can complete a long list of sysadmin features natively and with installable modules:

• File, database, and user management
• Language and theme customization
• Scheduled backup configuration
• Resource monitoring
• Server hardening
• DNS Settings
• Manage email
• And much more…

Install Webmin on Ubuntu with APT

This guide was tested on Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04.

1. Log into SSH as root.
2. Edit your APT sources file:

   nano /etc/apt/sources.list

3. Add Webmin to the file:

   deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib

4. Download the developer’s GPG key which signed the repo:

   wget https://download.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc

5. Add it to your list of trusted keys:

   apt-key add jcameron-key.asc

6. Update your package lists:

   apt-get update

7. Install Webmin:

   apt-get install webmin

8. If applicable, open port 10000 on your server firewall. If you don’t have one installed already, we recommend ConfigServer Security & Firewall (CSF) or Firewalld for managing iptables firewall rules.
9. Set a password for the root Webmin user:

   /usr/share/webmin/changepass.pl /etc/webmin/ root NewStrongPassword

   Add a space before the command to prevent it (and your new password) from being saved in your bash history.

You’ll receive the following notification: “Password for Webmin user root updated successfully.”

Afterwards, log into https://YourServerHostname:10000 or https://YourServerIP:10000 with your Webmin user credentials.

Can’t locate ./acl/md5-lib.pl/ ?

If you receive the “Can’t locate ./acl/md5-lib.pl…” error, try the following steps.

1. Navigate to the Webmin directory:

   cd /usr/share/webmin

2. Rerun the password reset script or try this variation of the command:

   ./changepass.pl /etc/webmin/ root NewStrongPassword

If you prefer a one-liner to complete the two steps above you can use the following:

cd /usr/share/webmin/ && ./changepass.pl /etc/webmin/ root NewStrongPassword

Fix the Self-signed SSL Certificate Error

You should address the self-signed SSL issue immediately after installing Webmin for better server security. We recommend installing an SSL certificate with Certbot.