# What is a wildcard subdomain and how to create it in cPanel?

> A wildcard subdomain lets you point every subdomain of a domain to a single folder in your cPanel account.

Source: https://www.kualo.com/knowledgebase/cpanel-domains/what-is-wildcard-subdomain-and-how-to-create-it-in-cpanel
Updated: 2026-06-09

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A wildcard subdomain (also called a wildcard DNS entry) lets you point all subdomains of a domain - both existing ones and any that do not yet exist - to a single folder in your cPanel account.

For example, if you set up a wildcard for `*.domain1.com`, then `test.domain1.com`, `forum.domain1.com`, and any other subdomain will all serve content from the same document root. This is useful for multisite web applications or any setup where you want every subdomain to resolve to the same location.

:::info
Wildcard subdomains only work for domains whose DNS is hosted with Kualo (i.e. the domain points to Kualo's nameservers). See [Updating nameservers at Kualo](/knowledgebase/updating-your-nameservers/updating-nameservers-at-kualo) if your domain is registered with us and you need to update them.
:::

## How a wildcard subdomain works

The wildcard character `*` acts as a catch-all prefix. So `*.domain1.com` matches `anything.domain1.com` and routes it to whichever folder you specify as the document root.

## Creating a wildcard subdomain in cPanel

1. [Log in to cPanel](/knowledgebase/cpanel-how-tos/how-to-login-to-cpanel).
2. Go to the **Domains** section and click **Subdomains**.

![Subdomains option in the cPanel Domains section](https://kb-cdn.kualo.com/ea/ac/eaace2e5bca8eb9f811d911cf1c2a7a0819cbe6d.png)

3. In the **Subdomain** field, enter `*` as the subdomain name.
4. Select your domain from the drop-down list.
5. In the **Document Root** field, enter the folder path you want all wildcard requests to point to, or accept the suggested path.
6. Click **Create**.

![Creating a wildcard subdomain in cPanel with * as the subdomain name](https://kb-cdn.kualo.com/7b/0c/7b0c3d361a5041bc9150ef8d6240af3a4fa677d2.png)

Once created, allow up to four hours for the DNS change to propagate across the internet. After that, any subdomain under your domain will resolve to the folder you specified.

If you need any help, feel free to contact the Kualo support team.

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_Source: Kualo Knowledgebase — https://www.kualo.com/knowledgebase/cpanel-domains/what-is-wildcard-subdomain-and-how-to-create-it-in-cpanel · © Kualo Ltd._