What is WPMU?
WPMU stands for WordPress Multisite and it allows a collection of sites to run from the same WP account. This makes life very easy! Those sites can share the same plugins, widgets and themes without any trouble.
You can build as many sites as you like with WPMU and they can have absolutely different topics. Though these blogs are managed under the same account, they are independant from each other and must not have the same topic.
What really happened?
When I first heard about the WPMU which stands for WordPress Multisite, I thought that was a good idea as people will be able to juggle many blogs from the same location. I actually thought it was genius and I meant it. Reality caught me when the time came for me to start my other blog and I wanted both ( this and the new one) on the same account.
I went around, read as much as I could about installing WPMU and it all seemed very easy and straightforward. Little did I know that things weren't going to work as expected.
Until I started this process, I did not know that there was already an issue with installing Multisite on WP 3.5.1( this is the latest version which I use).
So I followed the steps as adviced, without skipping on anything just to end up having an error message, oouuupppsss. I went mad as you can imagine, luckily I had saved all my files both on my WP and on my Host Server.
At first I thought I had done something wrong somewhere, so I tried again few times but nada, nothing worked. So I went from forums to forums to find the solution to my problem.
People tried to help but it still didn't do for me and by the way, so many people have issues installing WPMU. Everything was ok when I pasted the blog of code into wp-config.php, but things went bonkers once I replaced the codes in .htaccess.
Luckily things are back on track now and that's why I decided to write this post, because through forums I discovered that so many people are having issues with this.
Installing WPMU step-by-step
As I said earlier it should be very easy to do it, but it wasn't for me. having said that, I'm going to share with you the steps I took.
- Once you decide to migrate to multisite, before, you even touch any button, please please I beg of you make sure you back up all your files including plugins and everything else. Anything can happen.
I use BackUpBuddy for backups, but there's also a free plugin called WP Complete BackUp that you can install and activate from your plugins area.
NB: When installing plugins, make sure that they are compatible with multisite, else they won't work!
Alternatively, you can go into your Cpanel and Backup your files. I use HostGator, when I backup my files from the Cpanel, it gives me the option to also send me a copy of my backup through my email.
- Make sure you deactivate all your plugins before you start. These can be reactivated once the network is created.
- Now go into your Cpanel to enable the Multisite Network. Edit the wp-config.php file and paste the code below
/* Multisite */
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
just before the line that says
/* Multisite */
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
Once you've done the above steps and saved them, check your dashboard, under the Tools tab you'll see the Network Setup button. Getting excited , yeahhh 
- Once installed, it's now time to activate the network. You'll be presented with a page full of codes which looks like this one below
- From here on you simply follow the steps which are written on top of each code. The 1st blog of code is for the wp-config.php area and the 2nd blog is for the .htaccess area. After completion of these steps, clear your cache and cookies in some cases ( that was my case) and log back in. You should get a dashboard that looks like this one
If you get this, you are ok, if not then something must be wrong somewhere. Before I got to this, I had to edit the .htaccess area a few times, here are the options someone proposed on a forum and it did work for some people, so I took permission from the owner to share them here just in case someone else might need them.
NB: These blogs of codes are only for the .htaccess area, to be tried only if the given one doesn't work.
1)-
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]
# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
2)-
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]
# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
3)-
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]
# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^aaa\-my\.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.aaa\-my\.com$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/aaa\.my" [R=301,L]
If you've tried all these options and none of them seem to work, try some forums and if still nothing then you can contact this guy called Roland. He's is a WP savy, he's very helpful and could sort you out very quickly and at reasonable price too.
After service is impressive and he's very friendly. He helped me out with some work I was struggling with and I decided to recommend him because i was impressed by the service and the speed at which he can deliver.
Just mention this site when contacting him and he'll make sure he gives you a good rate. I must point out that I'm in no way affiliated to his services, I just wanna help those struggling with the WP. Click Here to get in touch with him.
Benefits of WPMU
The benefits of WP multisite are numerous and I'm going to name just a few:
- Allows users to manage and control many sites from the same account
- Although under the same root, sites are independant from each other
- Files (plugins, widgets, themes, etc) can be shared between sites at the same time
- Informations can be shared between the sites
Just to name those few benefits, I hope that this post has been of great use to many of you. Will appreciate your comments and feedbacks regarding different topics on this site.
