# PrestaShop: your first steps

> The back-office address, your first login, updating safely, and the plan it needs.

Source: https://veldhost.eu/docs/prestashop-getting-started

Picked PrestaShop? Your site came with PrestaShop installed from the current stable release, ready for your catalogue.

## What gets installed

- **PrestaShop 9** (latest stable, PrestaShop's own "classic" package, checksum verified) on PHP 8.4 with its own MariaDB database in your container.
- The shop name you gave the site, English as shop language, SSL on, friendly URLs on, and **no demo products**.
- The back office in a **randomly named folder** (for example `/admin745…/`) — the standard PrestaShop protection against automated attacks. The installer folder is removed.
- nginx rules straight from PrestaShop's documentation: image rewrites, the web-service API under `/api/`, source folders blocked.

## First login

1. Your site page in the portal shows the back-office address, the login (your email address) and a generated password — we display it for 7 days, so bookmark the address and save the password now.
2. Log in, click your name top right and set your own password.
3. Set your country, currency and VAT under **International → Localization** — the shop starts with Dutch settings if we could not tell.
4. Add products under **Catalog → Products**, and a payment module under **Payment → Payment Methods**.

## Updating

- Use the **1-Click Upgrade** module from the back office (Modules → Module Manager). Always press **Back up now** on the Files tab first — a failed PrestaShop upgrade is much easier to restore than to repair.
- PrestaShop 9 supports PHP 8.1–8.5; keep the site's PHP version within that range on the PHP tab.

## Limits

- PrestaShop needs 1 GB of memory, so it is offered on the Pro plan and up.
- Module and theme purchases from PrestaShop Addons are yours; we do not install or support third-party modules.