IonCube Loaders

IonCube Loader is an extension for PHP. With this extension, ionCube encoded files can be decoded and executed. Encoded files execute and load faster, giving better performance results for your WHASOLS. IonCube Loader is one of the requirements for running WHASOLS.

Installing IonCube Loaders

For Linux applications, root access to the server is required. If you do not have root access and your server does not have IonCube Loaders installed, please contact your hosting provider for assistance. If you do not know if you have IonCube Loaders installed, you can check by creating a PHPInfo page and visiting it in your web browser

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

For cPanel

Installing IonCube Loaders with cPanel & WHM can be done one of two ways:

  • Using EasyApache via WHM >> EasyApache, IonCube Loaders can be installed by searching "ioncube12" under the PHP Extensions List, selecting the applicable package based on your installed PHP version, and finalizing the installation.

Click at PHP Extensions and then search ioncube

Installation Logs:


  • As the user root via SSH, you can run the below command to install IonCube Loaders:
yum install ea-php<version>-php-ioncube12
In the example above, <version> represents the version of PHP for which you wish to install ionCube.

For Non-Control panel Servers

  • Begin by downloading the latest loaders to your computer from http://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php
  • Extract the contents of the archived file on your local PC to a folder of your choice.
  • Upload the folder IONCUBE via FTP to your domain webspace
  • Now establish an SSH connection with server using a suitable client (e.g. Putty for PC's or Terminal on Mac). This is usually done using the command: SSH rootusername@yourserver.com (you will then be asked for your password).
  • You will need to browse to the public folder where you uploaded the IONCUBE directory (search internet for change and view directory commands in Unix).
  • Move the ioncube folder to a permanent location by entering: mv ioncube /usr/local
  • Next, you need to locate the php.ini file, to do this enter: locate php.ini - You should find it is in /usr/local/lib/php.ini. Now that you know the location of php.ini you need to edit it. pico /usr/local/lib/php.ini
  • Now find where other zend extentions are in the file: ctrl + w: zend_extension
  • Paste in your new line for ioncube loader: zend_extension = /usr/local/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_x.so (Replace x with your version of PHP eg. 4.4)
  • Save the changes: ctrl + X then Y and enter
  • Restart the web server to take effect: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
That's it! Ioncube should now be installed & working on your server. To verify the installation was successful, check the PHP Info output for your server and you should see a new section which reads:


Note: If you are still having Ioncube issues the WHASOLS support team are unable to assist with this. Instead please contact Ioncube support directly.