How to switch a Joomla website to https?

Switching a Joomla website to HTTPS after the SSL certificate installation involves configuring the Joomla installation to use HTTPS and redirecting all HTTP traffic to HTTPS. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Update Joomla Configuration

1. Locate the configuration.php file within the root directory of your Joomla installation.
2. Open the configuration.php file in a text editor and locate the following lines:

$config['global_ssl_enabled'] = 0;
$config['sef_force_https'] = 0;

3. Change the value of $config['global_ssl_enabled'] to 1 to enable HTTPS support.
4. Set $config['sef_force_https'] to 1 to force all URLs to use HTTPS, including search engine friendly URLs (SEF URLs).

Step 2: Update Internal Links

1. Replace all occurrences of http:// with https:// in your Joomla templates, modules, and other static files.
2. Manually replace the http:// prefix or use a search and replace tool to ensure all internal links utilize HTTPS.

Step 3: Verify HTTPS Connection

1. Access your Joomla website in your web browser. Verify that the address bar displays https:// and the padlock icon is visible.
2. Test all internal links to ensure they redirect correctly from HTTP to HTTPS.
3. Access your website using different browsers and devices to ensure consistent functionality over HTTPS.

Optional Step: Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)

Enhancing security further, consider enabling HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) by adding the following line to your configuration.php file:

$config['xframe_options'] = 'sameorigin; https';

This will prevent browsers from accessing your website via HTTP and instruct them to always use HTTPS.