WordPress 3.0 is when the big merge happens. The core of WPMU is incorporated in WordPress which means that you can now run multiple blogs from one installation of WordPress. This new feature is being called Network or Multi-site option. By default this feature is disabled. If you want to use this option in your WordPress, then you would have to enable it.
To enable this feature, simply open your wp-config.php file located in your WordPress root folder. Then add the following line anywhere in the file:
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
Once you have done that, you should be able to access the network page from Tools » Network
Now, you no longer need to install multiple copies of WordPress because you can run multiple blogs from one installation. By default, you would only be allowed to run other blogs as a subdomain. To use other domains for blogs, you can use a Domain Mapping plugin.
TerdpongMongsonti
thank you for useful information that save my time!!
commodoregirl
Hi. Here is a link for those wanting to know more on the capabilities for Wordpress MS. A really good video explaining how Multisites work. http://wordpress.tv/2010/05/31/boone-gorges-wordpress-3-multisite/
LiliaLee
Great post, thank you!!!!
mattsfraser
Thanks for this tutorial as I was wondering how to install WP MS and your article greatly assisted me in doing so. Much appreciated.
ggarvin
I love the guide but I have run into a problem. I used your code and see the network option but I get the following message. <blockquote>”Error: Your WordPress address must match your Site address before creating a Network. See General Settings.”</blockquote>
Is this because my wordpress folder is in a folder?
kvaud
good afternoon,
I am setting up a wpms and am attempting to set up a subdirectory with Geo sites. When I attempt certain names – I get the rejected saying is an invalid name or path. Is there a limit on the number of characters in the secondary name?
thanks
PushpendraPal
Thanks for full featured post on setting up WP-MS.Going to set it up on my new website.
daniel-dwv
It installed fine… now what? I can’t find where to edit my new blog.
snelborn
i wnat to run WPMU on wamp can it work
navj
Thats great, I just got to know that this facility is also available.
Cheers wpbeginner
Aneeza Mubbashir
Thanks for a useful post – I take it we still have to edit the wp-config file to activate the MU features for WordPress 3.1 as well?
Do all plugins that work on single WP installations also work for multisite?
Editorial Staff
Yes, you would still have to edit the wp-config file to enable Multi-site. All well-coded plugins will work.
Admin
Mistry
Thanks for a useful post – I take it we still have to edit the wp-config file to activate the MU features for WordPress 3.1 as well?
Do all plugins that work on single WP installations also work for multisite?
Editorial Staff
Most popular plugins work with WP Multi Site.
Admin
Noor Mustafa
When I try to add this “define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);”
It create conflict with Google XML Sitemaps.. Getting this error msg”Google XML Sitemaps is not multisite compatible.”
Any help really appreciates ….
César Pérez
Hi everyone. First time in this site.
I’m really interested in WP MS function but I’m not pretty sure if this is what I (we) need.
I’m the webmaster of a university’s website and I wanted to install multiple WP in different sub-domains (like medios.uagricultura.com, biologia.uagricultura.com, escolar.uagricultura.com). Now, thanks to you, I find it may be possible to make a single WP installation and part from there but I need to have the main account of the installs plus one more guy/girl to administrate each sub-domain on its own and separate from the others ones. I mean, I need to administrate everything on demand but each section must have it’s own administrator/theme/active-widgets.
Would you recommend me to make a single WP MS installation or to keep one WP per sub-domain?
I’m a little old in WP knowledge but brand new in the administration side of it. Thank you in advance.
Editorial Staff
The Multi-Site option is what you need. You can be the network admin, and you can have one guy or girl managing each specific subdomain. Each section will have it’s own admin panel.
Admin
César Pérez
Thank you so much for the quick reply. I’ll be working on this all the week. By the way. Love your site. I’ll be here for a long, long time.
Kudos!
Bunty Singh
Thanks for Sharing this very important article for create WordPress Multisite.
Philip Bateman
Greetings – please excuse my basic question but does multisite work using different themes and entire domains? eg a http://www.xx.tv and a http://www.xx.com.au, accessed through the one administration section, where I can have a different look / theme for each domain?
I’ve always used godaddy so far for 1-click wordpress setup and hosting but am at a point where I need to setup 3 sites that each have a different theme and domain but ideally share content amongst them.
Would multi-site facilitate this or will I be recreating content / blog posts / pages in each ‘instance’ ? Thank you kindly for the information. I <3 WP
Editorial Staff
Yes Multi-Site allow you to use Domain Mapping (which lets you have two separate domains, two separate themes, two separate plugins etc). Godaddy is not the best host for this. Try using HostGator (coupon: wpbeginner).
Admin
Rick Nielsen
Philip,
The staff here is right on. I have completed 3 Multisite installs on my HostGator hosting and it works great. GoDaddy is not the best place to host, in my opinion, much of anything. Have fun with Multisite!
admin_keajon
Oh Thanks for information.
Jon
Drupal is worth a look too, maybe not a intuitive as Wordpress, and not so well supported, but good all the same. Wordpress does subdomains well though, if you can set up wildcards on your server (I think). I set up a WPMU once on a cpanel hosted site with no problems.
Jon
Edward, if you are running Wordpress on your own domain you are always in control. If you invest in Wordpress, then the worse case scenario is that the Wordpress community stop supporting it and you software stop being updated.
But if it works for you now, it will work in the future. Ok, there may be potential security threats raised in the future, but all you need is a sound backup plan and maybe a php developer to work on Wordpress for you. You site is independent of any core files on wordpress.org.
But in all honesty, Wordpress is probably one of the most durable CMS’ out there. So many people use it, it will always be supported.
Edward
Thank you Jon, now i can assure you i will have good sleep today. Iam really wondering why i never discoverred wordpress before. php code has eaten almost all my brain cells for the last one year! and never never came 10% near what wordpress has done for me in three days! you guys out there keep up the good work.
Edward
Thank again. one more thing. how would you rate the security and reliability of running hundreds of subdomains on wordpress platform. since it seems wordpress has quite control on the programme. could wordpress one day decide to call it a day and ground all networks including my personal domain running hundreds of subdomains? in other words how independent is my network from wordpress?
sam
Thanks for Sharing this very important article for create Wordpress Multisite.I followed all steps for Wordpress Multisite and i created on my own domain name.
Once again Thanks.
Edward
Am thankful for this blog. is it legal to create say 1000 blogs using wp with this technology and charge a little for maintenace and administrative work? is it possible to run ads from the main installation and they appear in all the blogs? or post announcements that appear in all blogs on my network? for instance can i place adsence ads that run on all blogs from one installation
Editorial Staff
Yes it is legal.
Admin
todd
thanks so much for this …. really great tutorial.
i do have one question – is it possible to set up the sites so they have different languages? It would be great if the user could login once and blog across sites in multiple languages. i’ve previously been using multiple wordpress installs to do this which is not ideal.
Glenn
I did this to one of my new websites, and it worked wonderfully. However, I want to do this to my blog, and I want the (sub-directory) feature. But it says this when I try:
“Because your install is not new, the sites in your WordPress network must use sub-domains. The main site in a sub-directory install will need to use a modified permalink structure, potentially breaking existing links.”
Do you know how I would be able to do a “sub-directory” rather than a sub-domain?
neil
Thank you, man. Worked like a charm.
I have one question. If I have MS working, do I need BuddyPress, too?
Editorial Staff
You don’t have to get BuddyPress in order to use MS.
Admin
JJ
Hi,
Many thanks for the tips. These proved very valuable.
I had 3 websites and Worpress installed in each of the 3 folders. I have now enabled the multi-site and made 2 of the domains “hang under” the main domain.
My question: what happens to the WP installation in those 2 subfolders?
Will their version number hang at say 3.0 whilst the main folder gets updated to 3.1, 3.2 etc.
Is there not a security risk and unnecessary use of webspace ?
Many thanks for clarifying.
Editorial Staff
No, once you upgrade the major install, all others will get upgraded as well.
Admin
Ckubs
It may be soud a little bit crazy but with Wp MS it is possible to show below an post comments from same post published on a different website? I want a mobile site but with only one category of it to be the normal site.
Tiffany
Hi! I got WP3 and multi user installed. Everything seems to be in working order. I’m a WP beginner and my objective for this new site is to have 3 blogs to go along with my Home, Shop, About and Contact pages. Blog #1 will be main blog, Blog #2 will be a wine diary, Blog #3 will be ideas on ideas to recycle wine bottles. I will have a menu to go to all 7 of these pages (all on the same website). I’m building the theme for this site in Artisteer. I’m trying to figure out how to actually use this Multi Site feature in order to make this happen. Will it even work for what I’m trying to do? If you have any links or tips on how to use it (multi-sites) once it’s installed that would be great too!! I appreciate your time and effort! Thank you!
Editorial Staff
Multi Site will surely work. WordPress Codex has an article on how to deal WPMU.
Admin
Matt Williamson
Anyone know how to enable the search across sites functionality? I need the subsites to be indexed in the search tool.
Aaron
You need a plugin to do sitewide search. Here is one such plugin: http://premium.wpmudev.org/project/global-site-search
Whatever plugin you choose, make sure it works for the Wordpress/MU version you are using.
Valerie
Thought I was crazy because I couldn’t get it working and realized it was just my impatience… the sub-domain just needed to propagate.
Warren Scott
I’m having the same problem as Rick Nieslen. I can create new sites but when I click on the link to activate it in the email I get page can’t be found.
My host said they set my server up for wildcard domains but I’m not sure how to check that it actually is.
Could you do a tutorial on how to enabel a network using sub-domains. Especially on step 2 setting up wildcard subdomains for apache servers.
While searching for answers I did find a plugin that will perform steps 3 through 5 of http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network
The plugin can be downloaded from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-multi-site-enabler-plugin-v10/
Jon
I have just upgraded to 3.0 and was looking forward to playing with the multi-blog options. A little bit surprised that a manual modification of wp-config.php is required – why did Wordpress not put an option in the admin panel to turn it on?
Editorial Staff
Because not everybody needs it, and by putting an option there can confuse beginners.
Admin
wizz
Please help me understand what is wrong.
– firstly I create a subdomain using my CP hosting.
– I create a website using the dashboard and it’s there under ‘my sites’. When check the subdomain folder with my ftp client, its empty.
– I check /wp-content/blogs.dir/ and that’s also empty (I have 777 the folder)
Are there files uploaded to the subdomain automatically or what happens?
Editorial Staff
You do not need to create each subdomains in the cPanel. WordPress does that automatically.
Admin
wizz
Thanks for the quick reply.
This is the problem. It doesn’t.
Is it because of the server blocking this action or because of something I missed installing the programme?
Thanks for your help.
Michael
Thank you for this posting.
I wonder why this information should be that hard to find.
should the multisite function be possible to just activate / de-activate from within the user interface?
I think so
Thank you once again; I got the information I was looking for
Michael
Mike
Hi,
I have followed all of the instructions as detailed above.
I have inserted the code in the wp-config.php, where you recommend.
I have also set up wild card subdomains in my DNS.
( I am running my sites on a Linux server through SEO hosting, which is part of Hostgator )
I do not get the NETWORK menu option coming up in tools.
Could this be because I have set up addon domains onto my primary ( account ) domain?
I have enabled wildcard subdomains for all of the addons as well and they are all upgraded to WP 3.
Any hints, tips or tricks are extremely welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Mike
Editorial Staff
MU should be installed at the minimum (VPS). If you have shared hosting, then MU is not the way to go.
Admin
RBD
Great! Thanks!
I know (and have) installed wp in a aub-directory and run a site from there without interfering with the root domain site. But what if the people running the root domain decide to have the sub-directory wp site manage them in the future – how would that work?
Editorial Staff
For top level domains, you would need to use a Domain Mapping plugin. I think this is what you are asking for. If not then please email us.
Admin
Vivek @ InfoEduTech
As you all know that wordpress 3.0 is out there and have to upgrade them. You can run multiple websites in wordpress 3.0 and this tutorial will clearly indicated that how you do it.
My question is that could i need a new installation of wordpress will upgrading to wordpress 3.0 directly through dashboard will do the work or not and for integrating the other blogs on itcould mess up all the things or not. Need your opinion on this?
It would be a pleasure if you guys come up with a tutorial on “how to merge your blogs into one blog” badly needed at this time.
Rick Nieslen
Great website guys! You really know your WP stuff!
Here is an issue I’m have with the new WP 3.0 and the multi-blog feature: I think I did everything as stated in all the instructions I have read when I set it up. But when I create a new site using the sub-domain setting, I get a page can’t be found. I can get to the wp-admin on the sites I create, but cant see the public side of the site. I’m using HostGator for my host. Now I remember seeing some requirements that the hosting company may need to configure to make the multi user worked, but I cant remember..du.
Any insight with this issue would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again for all you do.
Editorial Staff
Sometimes you would need to have correct DNS name records.
Admin
Garden Flowers
Just installed wordpress 3.0 release candidate for my new blog and followed your instructions to create multiple blogs in it. Pretty happy with the setup but one question.
How to configure search on main blog, so that it searches posts in all the blogs.
Editorial Staff
You would need to call a wpdb query to display all posts.
Admin
Dave
I’m running Windows Server 2008 with IIS and can’t seem to find the install instructions for IIS, only Apache for WP3.0 MU. What would replace .htaccess for Windows/IIS?
Thanks.
Dave
Editorial Staff
Get Linux servers, we don’t support IIS.
Admin
Mike
HI Dave,
as I understand it WP3 requires Ill 5 to operate.
Go linux
Mike
Dave
That looks like its a pretty cool feature of WP 3.0 which should make my life easier.
Priyamani
i have 2 blogs, one is main & another one is sub domain, how can i combine both? mean: how to use single installation.
Editorial Staff
If you were using WPMU before, simply click upgrade and it will happen. If you have them on a separate database, then you need to export the backup file for your subdomain blog. Install WordPress 3.0 and enable multi site. Then you need to create a subdomain account in your network. Then import the posts and images using the export file that you had.
Admin
SalStabler
Will the new wordpress 3.0 allow for us to create a network of blogs like wordpress.com??? Meaning can I have other people create free wordpress sites from my 3.0 installation??? Or is the 3.0 installation for personal use???
Editorial Staff
You can give out usernames if you want with WPMU and you could do it with this one. Although extra customization will be necessary.
Admin
TOZE BAIAO
Thanks for the great posts. Maybe this is a good way to install two themes in two languages.
Editorial Staff
You can do it this way yes
But remember, your posts must be translated by hand not on the fly. Because posts does not carry over through out the network by default.
Admin
TOZE BAIAO
Got that, Cheers
Alex h
i found a trouble when i set to i chose the subdomain option and when i enter to the Network option panel i get this
Warning: An existing WordPress network was detected.
Editorial Staff
This is a DNS issue. Read here for details: http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network#Network_Details
Admin
Pete
I’d love to see a full tutorial on how to get a new site going complete with a new theme
raiderhost
make great thankz
i was dload wordpress 3.0 beta yesterday . but while i get install nothing get form support multi subdomain
och .. just change wp-config.php
hfng
Love this blog! I have added you in my feeds mashup
http://www.reddotstudio.ch/rds-feeds/
Editorial Staff
Thanks for including us.
Admin
retro
Great news! Finally, I used Movable Type 4 for a while, it was great because you could create as many blogs as you liked with only one installation, the downside was the lack of current plugins, themes, and overall support.
The downside to WPMU is the limited administration options in every blog except the original, and the very very very limited kitchen sink, do you know if by enabling this option there other blogs you create will be limited like in MU?
Editorial Staff
This will be just like MU, so if you considered MU to be limited, then yes.
Admin
Mike
I’m currently working with both MU and WP3.
My view on MU is that it is clunky and a swine to configure.
I’m seriously considering changing my MU install back to WP3 because it’s such a pain to work with.
Downside 2: Wishlist member does not work with MU
Apart from that though there are some gorgeous templates etc
Cheers,
Evelyne
david
if you want to use sub domains make sure your home url & site url is set to http//domain rather than http//:www before you enable multisite it will try and configure your sub domains like this http//subdomain.www.domain.tld