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WPBeginner» Blog» Tutorials» How to Install and Setup WordPress Multisite Network

How to Install and Setup WordPress Multisite Network

Last updated on July 5th, 2017 by Editorial Staff
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How to Install and Setup WordPress Multisite Network

Do you want to setup a WordPress multisite network? WordPress comes with a built-in capability to create multiple websites using the same WordPress install. In this article, we will show you how to install and setup a WordPress multisite network.

How to install and setup WordPress multisite network

Since this is a comprehensive article, we have added the table of contents for easier navigation:

  • What is WordPress Multisite?
  • Pros of using a WordPress multisite network
  • Cons of using a WordPress multisite network
  • Who needs a WordPress multisite network?
  • Requirements for a WordPress multisite network
  • Choosing a domain structure for your multisite network
  • Setting up wildcard subdomains
  • Enabling WordPress multisite network feature
  • Setting up your WordPress multisite network
  • Configuring network settings
  • Opening your multisite network for registrations
  • New site settings
  • Upload settings for your multisite network
  • Plugin menu settings
  • Adding new sites to your WordPress multisite network
  • Adding themes and plugins to your multisite network
  • Troubleshooting WordPress multisite issues

What is WordPress Multisite?

A WordPress multisite network allows you to run and manage multiple WordPress sites from a single WordPress installation.

You can create new sites instantly and manage them using the same username and password. You can even allow other users to signup and create their own blogs on your domain.

Pros of Using a WordPress Multisite Network

In many situations, a WordPress multisite network can be more useful than managing multiple standalone WordPress sites. Here are some of the advantages of using a WordPress multisite network:

  1. As the network administrator, you can easily manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.
  2. Each site on the network can have its own admins. The site admins will have the capabilities to manage only their own website.
  3. You can install plugins and themes and activate them for multiple sites with one download.
  4. Multisite network also makes it easier for you to manage updates. You only need to update your WordPress, plugins, or themes on one “master” install.

Cons of Using a WordPress Multisite Network

Creating a WordPress multisite network is not always as helpful in managing multiple sites. Here are some of the disadvantages of using a multisite network that you should keep in mind.

  1. All sites on the network share the same resources. This means that when your site is down, all other sites on the network go down as well.
  2. Managing server resources in case of unexpected traffic can be difficult for a beginner level user.
  3. If your website gets hacked, then this means all sites on your network will get hacked.
  4. Some WordPress plugins may not work well on a multisite network.

Who Needs a WordPress Multisite Network?

Just because you manage multiple WordPress websites does not mean you need to start using a multisite network.

There are third party tools like ManageWP or InfiniteWP that you can use to manage all your WordPress sites under one roof.

Here are some example scenarios when creating a multisite network makes sense:

  • A magazine website with different sections managed by different teams.
  • A business website with sub-sites for different locations and branches.
  • Government or non-profit websites can use WordPress multisite for different departments, locations, and regions.
  • Your own network of blogs running on multiple subdomains.
  • Schools and colleges allowing students to create their own blogs on school servers.

Requirements for a WordPress Multisite Network

All websites on a WordPress multisite network share the same server resources. This means that the most important thing you will need is a good WordPress hosting.

If you are planning on having just a couple of websites with low traffic, then you can probably get away with shared hosting.

However, due to the nature of multi-sites, you’d need VPS hosting or a dedicated server as your sites grow.

We recommend Bluehost because they offer both shared hosting and VPS/Dedicated servers, and they are also one of the official WordPress hosting partners.

We’ve also worked with SiteGround and InMotion Hosting, and they also provide excellent service.

Apart from web hosting, you will need some basic knowledge of installing WordPress and editing files using FTP.

Choosing a Domain Structure for Your Multisite Network

On a WordPress multisite network, you can add new sites using either subdomains or sub-directories.

http://site1.example.com
http://example.com/site1/

If you choose subdomains, then you will have to configure wildcard subdomains on your server (we will show you how to do that later in this article).

On the other hand, if you choose sub-directories or path based URLs for sites on your network, then the only thing you need to do is enable pretty permalinks on your root site.

Setting Up Wildcard Subdomains

If you decide to use subdomains for websites on your multisite network, then you will need to setup wildcard subdomains for your multisite network.

To do that, first you need to login to your WordPress hosting account’s cPanel dashboard. Scroll down to the Domains section and then click on Subdomains.

Subdomains in cPanel dashboard

Note: Depending on your web hosting service, your cPanel dashboard may look slightly different than the screenshot above. This screenshot is from the cPanel on Bluehost.

On the next screen, you need to enter the * sign in the subdomain field and select your main domain from the drop down menu.

Adding wildcard subdomain

Cpanel will automatically detect the document root and will display it in the field below. Now click on the ‘Create’ button to add your wildcard subdomain.

Enabling WordPress Multisite Network Feature

Multisite Network feature comes built-in with each WordPress install. All you need to do is install and setup WordPress like you normally would. After that, you just need to enable the multisite feature.

You can also enable multisite feature on any existing WordPress site. Before you enable multisite, don’t forget to create a complete backup of your WordPress site.

To enable Multisite, connect to your site using a FTP client or cPanel file manager, and open the wp-config.php file for editing.

You need to add the following code to your wp-config.php file just before the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ line.

/* Multisite */
define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );

Now save and upload your wp-config.php file back to the server.

This code simply enables multisite feature on your WordPress site. You would still need to setup multisite, and how you want to use it.

Setting up Your WordPress Multisite Network

Now that you have successfully enabled the Multisite Network feature on your WordPress site, it is time to set up your network.

Before you do that, you will need to deactivate all plugins on your WordPress site.

Visit Plugins » Installed Plugins page and select all plugins. From ‘Bulk Actions’ drop down menu select ‘Deactivate’ and then click on the ‘Apply’ button.

Deactivate all plugins

You can now head over to Tools » Network Setup page to configure your multisite network.

WordPress multisite network setup

On the network setup screen, you will see a notice that you need Apache’s mod_rewrite module installed on your server. This module is installed and enabled on all best WordPress hosting providers.

The next thing you need to do is to tell WordPress what kind of domain structure you will be using for sites in your network, e.g. Subdomains or Sub-directories.

After that you would need to provide a title for your network and make sure that the email address in the Network admin email is correct.

Lastly, click on the install button to continue.

WordPress will now show you some code that you need to add to your wp-config.php and .htaccess file.

Add code to wp-config and .htaccess files

Use your FTP client or file manager cPanel to copy and paste the code in these two files.

After that you will need to login to your WordPress site again.

Configuring Network Settings

Now that you have setup the multisite network, it is time to configure network settings.

To do that, you need to switch to the ‘Network Dashboard’ to change network settings, add new sites, and configure other settings.

When you take your mouse over to the ‘My Sites’ menu in the admin toolbar, a flydown popup will appear. Click on the Network Admin » Dashboard.

Network admin dashboard

You will notice that there are new menu items to manage your multisite network. You will also see a dashboard widget allowing you to create new site and add new users.

Network dashboard

To configure network settings, click on the ‘Settings’ link in the admin sidebar.

The first option on network settings page is to set your site title and admin email address. These fields will be filled with the network title and admin email you entered during setup.

Network settings

Opening Your Multisite Network for Registrations

The ‘Registration Settings’ section on the network settings screen is probably the most important setting in your network setup.

By default, both user and site registrations are disabled on the network.

You can choose to open your site for user registration, or allow existing users to create new sites, or allow both user and site registration.

WordPress multisite registration settings

If you are opening your multisite network to registration, then you can check the box next to ‘Registration Notification’ option to receive email notifications every time a new user or site is registered.

If you want to allow individual site administrators the ability to add new users on their sites, then you can check the box next to ‘Add New Users’ option.

Registration options

Limited Email Registration option allows you to limit site or user registration to email addresses from specific domains. This is particularly useful if you only want to allow people from your own organization to register and create users or sites.

Similarly, you can also ban certain domains from registration.

New Site Settings

The ‘New Site Settings’ section allows you to configure default options for new sites created on your network. You can modify the welcome emails and the contents of first default post, page, and comment.

New site settings

Upload Settings for Your Multisite Network

It is important for you to keep an eye on the usage of the server resources. Under the Upload Settings section, you can limit the total amount of space a site can use for uploads.

The default value is 100 MB which is probably good for at least 100 photo uploads. You can increase or decrease this space depending on how much disk space you have.

Upload settings

The default upload file types are images, audio, video, and pdf files. You can add additional file types if you want, e.g. doc docx odt.

Lastly, you can choose a file size limit, so that users can’t upload insanely large files to the server.

Plugin Menu Settings

Under the menu settings, you will find the option to enable administrative menu for the plugins section on the network sites.

Enabling this will show plugins menu to respective site admins. They can activate or deactivate a plugin on their individual sites, but they cannot install new plugins.

Show or hide plugins menu to site admins

Adding New Sites to Your WordPress Multisite Network

To add a new site to your WordPress multisite, simply click on Sites under My Sites » Network Admin menu in the admin toolbar.

Adding new sites to your WordPress multisite network

This will show you a list of sites on your current multisite installation. By default, you have your primary site listed as the only site in your WordPress Multisite network.

To add a new site, click on the Add New button at the top.

Add new site

On the ‘Add New Site’ page, you need to provide the site’s address. You don’t need to type the full address, just the part you want to use as subdomain or sub-directory.

After that provide a site title, and add the site admin’s email address.

Adding new site details

You can add an admin email address other than the one you are currently using to manage your multisite.

If the email address is not currently in use by another user, then WordPress will create a new user and send the password and username to the email address you enter.

Once you are done, click on the ‘Add Site’ button.

A new site will be added to your multisite network. As the network admin, you will receive a new site registration email.

If you created a new user, then that user will receive an email with instructions to set password and login.

Adding Themes and Plugins to Your Multisite Network

By default, individual site administrators in a multisite network cannot install themes and plugins on their own.

As the network admin, you can install plugins and themes and make those themes / plugins available to them.

To add themes, go to My Sites » Network Admin » Themes page.

Installed themes on your WordPress multisite network

Now you will see a list of currently installed themes on your WordPress multisite. You can make a theme available to other sites by clicking on ‘Enable Network’ under that theme. You can also disable a theme by clicking on Disable Network link under the theme.

To add a new theme, you need to click on the ‘Add New’ button at the top and then install a theme like you would normally do.

Once the new theme is installed, you will be able to make it available to other sites on your network.

Similarly, you can install plugins and network activate them by visiting My Sites » Network Admin » Plugins page.

Network activate plugins on a WordPress multisite

Note: If you have enabled Plugins Menu for site admins in the ‘Network Settings’, then site administrators can activate or deactivate installed plugins on their own.

Troubleshooting WordPress Multisite Issues

Most common issues occur due to incorrect configuration of wildcard subdomains. Make sure that your web host supports wildcard subdomains.

Another common issue is that when using WordPress multisite with sub-directories, some users are unable to login to the admin area of their sites after they add the required code in wp-config.php file. To fix this, try replacing

define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);

line in wp-config.php file with

define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', 'false');

One more issue that you may came across is not being able to find the users who registered but didn’t get the activation email. To fix this issue, see our guide on how to find pending unconfirmed users in WordPress.

Later at some point you or another site owner may want to export a site from multisite to its own WordPress install. This can be easily done. For step by step instructions see our guide on how to move a site from WordPress multisite to single install.

We hope this article helped you lean how to install and setup WordPress multisite network. You may also want to see our step by step WordPress security guide to protect and keep your WordPress multisite secure.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Page maintained by Syed Balkhi.

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137 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Rob says:
    Dec 6, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Is it possible to use different domains as opposed to sub-domains/sub-folders when setting up multisite?

    Reply
  2. Joseph says:
    Dec 3, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    Subdirectory for creating new site is missing. only sub domain

    Reply
  3. Colleen says:
    Nov 22, 2017 at 6:17 pm

    Hi, I am new to WP and learning in baby steps. My husband and I have several websites whose website builder went out of business. So we have a host and domain names. I opened up a wordpress account and am in the process of transferring over one of my sites.
    But, since I read your article above, it looks like a multi-site network might not be best, but I cannot find any info online on how to open up a new and different WP account with a different website. and I would have to do this for each of our five websites. They are all different kinds of sites that do not relate to each other at all.
    what do you suggest? thank you

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 26, 2017 at 9:01 am

      Hi Colleen,

      You can sign up for a hosting provider and host multiple websites on the same hosting account. You can also add multiple domains and install multiple instances of WordPress for each website under the same hosting account.

      However, if your websites get more than you should consider VPS hosting or managed WordPress hosting.

      Reply
  4. Joao Cerca says:
    Nov 16, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    After following all the instructions on this post, I always get the same problem with the themes. I have a theme for the main website and it works perfect, even the theme selector area is fine.

    However, the 2nd and the other websites created after are completely void of any style, also the theme selector has nothing. I cannot find any proper solution for my problem.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 17, 2017 at 8:13 am

      Hi Joao Cerca,

      You can go to Network Admin > Themes page to install themes for other sites on your network. You will need to click on the ‘Enable Network’ button below that theme. After that you can go to your other sites and activate theme you want to use on those sites.

      Reply
  5. Dese Abebe says:
    Oct 29, 2017 at 11:50 am

    When i create multisite on hostgator, i got a warning message to remove www. But i want my websites to look like www.example.com/multisites.
    So how can i do like this? Please wpbeginer give me a solution!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Oct 29, 2017 at 11:25 pm

      Hi Dese,

      You can install it on HostGator.

      Reply
  6. Max Dai says:
    Oct 17, 2017 at 2:33 am

    I deactivated all plugins at once and suddenly my site stopped working. Browser says “redirected you too many times”. How to solve this?

    Reply
  7. Ryan says:
    Oct 5, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    The problem I am having is that after I create a new subdomain site2.example.com so that I can effectively “add new site” in wordpress, I am unsure how to delete the old “site1.example.com” and point the url to subdomain 2. The second subdomain doesn’t show up in my file structure in my cpanel. So how does one simply “export content from first site, import it into new site…and then change web addresses over?” There seems to be no easy answer online anywhere.

    Reply
  8. Jacob Conway says:
    Oct 3, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    I need to allow users to sign up for a site using multi site but also need my main site duplicated for the user. Can this be done? If so, how?

    Reply
  9. Jeanette Folkes says:
    Sep 23, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    Great article and super easy steps to follow. When I create the multisite, all I’m getting is Index of / and a directory listing, which at the moment is just cgi-bin. Originally I was getting a site not found error and added FollowSymLinks to my .htaccess file and now just a directory listing.

    Any suggestions how to fix that? Using subdomains as it was an existing site. have updated the wp-config file and .htaccess. Hosting confirms they meet all requirements (mod_rewrite, etc). Just not sure where to go from here. Feels like the site is not finding the WordPress installation.

    Thanks so much for any suggestions!

    Reply
  10. Cristiano says:
    Sep 13, 2017 at 10:45 am

    Hi,
    Your post is VERY interesting and well written. Thanks for that.

    Then, my question: Can a multisite network be installed itself in a subdomain?
    (I would use subdirectories for the individual sites of the network)

    Thanks a lot!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 14, 2017 at 11:01 pm

      Hi Cristiano,

      Yes, you can install a multisite network on a Subdomain and use subdirectories for each site on the network.

      Reply
      • Cristiano says:
        Sep 16, 2017 at 1:15 pm

        Hi,
        Thanks for your reply.
        I just tried and it works perfectly.
        Once more congratulations for this article.
        BR
        Cristiano.

        Reply
  11. Amir hanif says:
    Aug 12, 2017 at 10:57 am

    Is there an option to implement woocomerce in this multisite thing, the meaning of this is that if one subdomain site sells an item it will show the order on the subdomain site as wel as one the admin site wich can make other sites etcc.

    Its useful to know if that part would work so there can be one place where all the orders of the subdomains collect

    Reply
  12. Sonia Woolf says:
    Jul 25, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    All my dashboards go back to the original site – and any changes are done on the original site…I can’t see where I went wrong.

    Reply
  13. Harsh Nagda says:
    Jul 24, 2017 at 12:16 am

    Hi,

    After modifiying wp-config.php file and .htacces file i am getting this error.

    “One or more database tables are unavailable. The database may need to be repaired.”

    What can be done?

    Thanks.

    Reply
  14. Laura says:
    Jul 19, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    Hi,
    I noticed at least a couple of others running into this same issue, but no answers: When I try to view my newly-created additional sites, I get a 403 error – no permission to view. What did I miss? Dashboards all work fine, I just can’t actually view the sites themselves.

    Reply
  15. Wouter says:
    Jun 16, 2017 at 10:07 am

    I would like to categorize my self hosted blogs (individual domains) and then let my blog writer only access blogs from a certain category so he can maintain them with fresh content. How do I do that? For categorization I already found this plugin:

    So now only to be able to give users permission to access blogs form a category.

    Reply
  16. Ankit Dhadwal says:
    Jun 13, 2017 at 9:53 am

    I have created a subdomain but its path is not public_html/ ……
    When i have created a sub domain the steps that I followed were
    1. Gave name to my new subdomain
    2. Then clicked on create button.

    Automatically a path was created blog.xyz.com

    I have check this in your screenshot and on youtube also but everywhere the path is public_html/
    but why my path is different???
    Please help me in this and also can you help me installing WordPress in my subdomain.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jun 13, 2017 at 10:44 pm

      Hey Ankit,

      It is OK, your path can be different depending on how your web hosting company has configured their servers.

      Reply
  17. Vishnu Goyal says:
    Jun 7, 2017 at 2:25 pm

    Should one use sub-domains or sub-directories? What are the pros and cons of both? Please add a small guidance on this issue in this article.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  18. smart kutter says:
    May 25, 2017 at 1:19 am

    hello, thanks so much for your article has really help but how can i access the wp-admin of new domain on my multisite?.. is telling me Access Forbidden with this error massage:
    Access forbidden!

    You don’t have permission to access the requested directory. There is either no index document or the directory is read-protected.

    If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

    Error 403

    localhost
    Apache/2.4.23 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.0.2h PHP/7.0.

    Reply
  19. Erik says:
    May 14, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    Is there any way to have a set theme already created like content, design, etc. and when a new user signs up and creates an new site via registering that it automatically has that pre-built website page for them?

    Reply
  20. Sara says:
    May 13, 2017 at 6:34 am

    Hey, thanks for this description.
    Can you also name me a gallerie plugin which works on a multisite with up to four websites?
    I need something where I create one gallery and use the pictures on every website to not upload them several times.
    Appreciate your help!
    Sara

    Reply
  21. Ameer Hamza says:
    Apr 4, 2017 at 3:01 am

    sir i can’t deactivate the plugins is there any solutions to do that?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Apr 4, 2017 at 4:18 am

      Hey Ameer,

      See our guide on how to deactivate plugins when not able to access WordPress admin.

      Reply
  22. rohit says:
    Mar 22, 2017 at 4:30 am

    hi,

    i want to know that where to upload existing themes. actually i have 10 single sites so i want to implement one multisites. all the single site have same theme but but they have different css. so how to include all 10 themes in multisites for single site.

    Reply
  23. Wenda says:
    Mar 11, 2017 at 10:41 am

    OK. First. THANK YOU! it’s amazing that you published this full and comprehensive post about creating the wordpress multi-users. I am having a problem finding the one step that shows whether I want a subdomain versus subdirectory. Maybe it’s because I cant find the apache installation so I can’t see find the mod_rewrite. I haven’t gotten past that part of your tutorial (besides enabling the registration) I suppose I can live with the directory.. but I’d REALLY REALLY like the subdomain! :) I setup the wildcard, but I don’t have a “tools” option in the network dashboard and no option to choose between subdomain or directory.

    Reply
  24. Hamza says:
    Feb 21, 2017 at 11:09 am

    Hi,
    is this possible in wordpress that we can post on 1 website can also be posted on other wordpress website?
    note: not with iframe.
    thanks

    Reply
  25. SAMITH TON says:
    Feb 10, 2017 at 3:59 am

    Hi,
    I just set up multiple WordPress websites following your guides but I need to use domain sub directory in multisite network. However, after completing the step-by-step guide, it shows only Subdomains for adding new sites in the Network Admin. How can we have another way to add wildcard subdirectory instead of subdomains? Please provide me the tutorials to follow.

    Thanks so much for helpful articles posted!

    Best,

    SAMITH TON

    Reply
  26. Tony says:
    Feb 2, 2017 at 4:05 pm

    I require my users to login to the site to use the services. When I convert my site to multi-site, will my users still be able to go to the base url (www.myblogsite.net) to login – or will they have to go to the subdomain/subdirectory of the site to login in? In other words, if they go to the base url (which requires the username and password) does WordPress recognize each individual user – and then redirect them to the appropriate subdomain/subdirectory that they belong to?

    Reply
  27. Mayuna says:
    Feb 2, 2017 at 12:50 pm

    Thank you for sharing this great article.
    I succeed to setup all steps above, but next, how could I access to site1 dashboard?
    ‘site1.domain.com/wp-admin’ is not found.

    Could you give me an advise..?

    Reply
  28. Edmond says:
    Jan 27, 2017 at 6:06 am

    Dear WP Begginer

    I created Multisite. When i create sub domain it allows it but the problem i cant access the subdomain site. When i visit pointtheme.edmoblogs.com/wp-admin/ i get an error. I asked my web hosting if i configured wild-card well and they checked they say NO problem on their side.

    When first i install the multisite, It was installed in a sub-directory. I accessed wp-config.php to change define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);” to define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘TRUE’);”.

    Should i chance the .HTACCESS or what can i do?

    Reply
    • Jared latigo says:
      Feb 24, 2017 at 2:16 am

      Not sure if you got this resolved but you can’t swap it once you setup the network. It is how it is setup in the first place. I’m not sure why but I’ve found that to be the case for me. You will have to reinstall the network unfortunately. Hope that helps.

      Reply
  29. Chris says:
    Dec 16, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    I followed the basic instructions for adding the

    /* Multisite */
    define( ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’ , true);

    to the wp-config.php file in my server through FTP but even after I save the changes and refresh my wordpress site I do not see a NETWORK SETUP option in my TOOLs section.

    I have already deactivated all of my plugins to allow for this and given ample time to let changes take effect.

    Thoughts on why this very basic first step hasn’t worked? The php changes were saved in the files on the server…confirmed

    Reply
    • Manel says:
      Dec 27, 2016 at 3:01 pm

      Me too.
      Please, we need a solution

      Reply
    • Angie says:
      Apr 13, 2017 at 1:01 pm

      Did anyone find a resolution to this? I am having the same problem and am not sure what to try.

      Thank you!

      Reply
    • Joao Cerca says:
      Nov 17, 2017 at 3:01 am

      Check the quotas on the syntax. Can be that while copying the syntax, the system is putting ` instead of ‘.
      It happened to me once.

      Reply
  30. Tyler says:
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:59 am

    After following this guide on a fresh wordpress installation, the addon sites do not load. I am getting a 404 error when i try to access the addon sites website/dashboard. The main website seems to be working just fine. Any ideas?

    Reply
  31. Carrie says:
    Nov 19, 2016 at 6:39 pm

    I already have a working installation of wordpress (.org). I used for a class project.

    What the class did not teach was…now I have a client who needs a site built – it’s a new site they never had one. So how do I do this and where do I go? I had to use MS webmatrix for the project. I am totally lost and confused. Do you have tutorials on how to do this? I cannot find this anywhere?

    Do you have these tutorials and if not can you make them…

    Thank you…I’m totally frustrated

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 20, 2016 at 10:27 am

      Please take a look at how to start a WordPress blog. For further help refer to our Start Here page.

      Reply
  32. Dan Snyder says:
    Oct 18, 2016 at 11:53 am

    I want to build a site for a store chain that has multiple stores. If I use multisite and make a site for each store can I get the main theme to copy directly to each store with it’s graphics, so all of them look alike without configuring each store? Can I use WooCommerce and get it to show the inventory of each store, which will be different than other stores?

    thanks,

    Dan

    Reply
  33. Shetty says:
    Sep 27, 2016 at 4:00 am

    I migrated two of my sites to siteground under single plan. They have used multi site install those. The main site is working correctly, but i am facing issues with the second site

    It looks like i have an issue with the Multisite installation.

    For instance, when i tried to access the Tools ->Network I get the following message
    Warning: Please deactivate your plugins before enabling the Network feature.

    How do i enable the network, do i loose the data for the second site ?

    I also have separate database for both sites. users accounts are also different

    Is it correct ?

    Reply
  34. Jaco Smith says:
    Sep 23, 2016 at 9:57 am

    Good day, I am in urgent need of some assistance! I have one site in my WordPress Multisite Network, but I want to change that to a single install of WordPress!

    Please urgently assist!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 23, 2016 at 11:01 pm

      See our guide on how to move a site from WordPress multisite to single install.

      Reply
  35. James says:
    Sep 19, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    Excellent article, only spoilt by my ineptitude in following it!
    I must have misunderstood the bit about Registration Settings, as I left the box ‘Registration is disabled’ as ticked. I thought that that meant any NEW registrations would be disabled, and that as I was already registered, that was ok. Sadly, on trying to access the site, I find that my own registration is now disabled!
    How do I restore the situation and access my site?

    Reply
    • James says:
      Sep 19, 2016 at 1:32 pm

      Additional to the above. I read the comment about “replacing

      define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false);

      line in wp-config.php file with

      define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);”

      Only problem is that I cannot see this line anywhere in my wp-config.php file. There are all sorts of define ‘Authentication Unique Keys and Salts’ (whatever those are), plus Define WPLANG WP DEBUG ABSPATH, as well as the ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’ inserted as the instructions above, but no SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL

      Reply
      • Ben says:
        Aug 6, 2017 at 11:48 am

        Under Settings -> Network Setup – you should find the code to paste into your wp-config.php file.

        Reply
  36. Victor Adeniyi says:
    Sep 10, 2016 at 7:36 am

    hello please mine says

    The requested URL /wp-admin/ was not found on this server.

    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

    Reply
  37. Habib Manjotha says:
    Sep 3, 2016 at 12:46 am

    Is last paragraph right? I think, true should be 2nd line of ccodeode.
    “Another common issue is that when using WordPress Multisite with sub-directories, some users are unable to login to the admin area of their sites after they add the required code in wp-config.php file. To fix this, try replacing
    define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false);
    line in wp-config.php file with
    define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);.
    We hope this article helped you install and setup WordPress multisite network.”

    Reply
  38. Sansar Lochan says:
    Aug 31, 2016 at 4:09 am

    Hi WpBeginner. I am a regular follower of your posts. I was reading your this important article and I found I have done mistake somewhere. But you can better guide me where I am wrong.

    Actually I run a wordpressblog in Indian mother tongue. Later I thought to write in english, so instead of making subdomain, I preferred making subdirectory for the english version of my blog. & I successfully installed WordPress in my subfolder at

    But I am not using multisite option as you mentioned in this blog. I am logging in with two different wp-admin credentials for my main domain and subfolder. Subfolder has of course different htaccess file and robots txt

    Now I want to know from you, am I doing anything in wrong that is damaging my SEO? Traffic coming in my subfolder will not be counted for my main domain? Should I use multisite option?

    Thanks for your patience to read my long comment. I hope to get a knowledgeable reply from your end.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Aug 31, 2016 at 3:55 pm

      Many websites do that, we don’t think there is anything wrong with this approach.

      Reply
  39. vicky says:
    Aug 29, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    Nice article

    Reply
  40. Imran Mohammad says:
    Aug 13, 2016 at 2:41 am

    Hi,

    Awesome topic,
    I want to run multiple blogs with separate domains using WordPress. I have multiple domain hosting account at hostgator.in. Currently i am running my personal website developed in stranded html and css. How to manage both wordpress multiple bolgs and my personal website together.?

    Thanks in Advance.

    Reply
  41. Charles says:
    Aug 12, 2016 at 4:14 pm

    Really Informative Article.

    Reply
  42. Marlon says:
    Aug 9, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Great tutorial. Congrats mate.
    Unforntunately, I’ve got a problem.I’ve installed but the subsite recently created isn’t opening. the error message is “incorret redirect”.
    Do I need to install other wordpress in the subfolders when using with sub-directories ? any idea?

    thank

    Reply
  43. Doug Ithier says:
    Jul 29, 2016 at 1:52 am

    Hi, great article!

    I created the multi site but can’t login to the admin of the new site. I notice you write:

    To fix this, try replacing
    define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false);
    line in wp-config.php file with
    define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);.

    But my line says:

    define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, true);

    I have changed to false and tried using the comma’s but no luck. Any other ideas?

    I notice no folders have been added to my server to provide for the new site?

    I am just trying to create a one page website for my mate using my DIVI theme and plugins, as well as manage it for him. My hope is to point his new domain name in DNS settings to the web page I create?

    Thanks Doug.

    Reply
  44. Manisha saini says:
    Jun 18, 2016 at 2:55 am

    Hi
    I created multisite but I want to open onclick button in main site and open subsite and it’s information when user visit the site.how it will be done..

    Reply
  45. Edmond says:
    Jun 16, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Hey, Thanks for this tutorials. I followed all and my network names is up and running.

    Reply
  46. Gcod says:
    Apr 19, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    Great article!

    Would I be able to display a post from one site on the other?
    Have links from one site pointing to another? Are they sharing the same database?

    Reply
  47. Glenn lloyd says:
    Apr 10, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    hello I followed all the steps for installation but I am having a template issue with a test fashion store site here mccsites.com/pussa. the page is not showing up like it should.
    thanks

    Reply
  48. Bernard Brillo says:
    Apr 5, 2016 at 6:54 am

    Question, wordpress multisite do this.
    *create a clone copy of my main website to a subdomain
    *updates on main website will authomatically reflect on the clone copy in the subdomain

    I want to achieve this because i want a different theme on my clone copy website but i don’t want to manually republish the post on my main website to the clone site

    Reply
  49. Mark says:
    Mar 4, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    Hi there used this tutorial to create a multisite network worked perfectly. Thanks! But it raised another question. That question would be is it possible to run multiple frameworks on the same multisite network? If so do you have a tutorial that covers this topic?
    We have themes that are designed for both equity framework and genesis framework and would like to demo the themes on the same multisite network.
    Thanks for any info you can offer on this topic

    Reply
  50. Sabelo says:
    Feb 25, 2016 at 4:05 am

    Hi
    I created a multisite, problem when I duplicate or creating a subdomain site it does not show product categories on my landing page. Please help me I new to WP, here is my site url: also here is the subdomain site I created that not showing product categories:

    Thank you

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Mar 7, 2016 at 12:05 am

      Please make sure that there is at least one product in each category. WordPress by default does not show empty categories.

      Reply
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