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What is WordPress Multisite?
WordPress multisite allows you to create and manage multiple websites from a single WordPress installation. This powerful feature enables you to share the same core files, plugins, and themes across all sites while managing them from a centralized dashboard. This guide will walk you through setting up WordPress multisite on your Cloudways server.
How to Set Up a WordPress Multisite on Cloudways
Watch the following video tutorial to see how you can easily set up a WordPress Multisite on the Cloudways Platform.
You can also following the following steps to learn how to set up WordPress Multisite on Cloudways.
Step 1: Launch a Wordpress Application (Optional)
First, install the WordPress application on your server. If you have already done so, you can skip this step. Otherwise, follow this guide to install a WordPress application.
Step 2: Navigate to Application Settings
From the top menu bar, click Servers.
Then, choose the target server where your desired application is deployed.
Next, click www.
Select your application.
Next, select Application Settings and switch to the WordPress Settings tab.
Here, Enable Wordpress Multisite
Next, you will need to choose the type of network setup. Cloudways supports two types: subdirectory and subdomain multisites.
Subdirectory multisite: Loaded from a subdirectory of the root domain (e.g., domain.com/multisite/).
Subdomain multisite: Loaded from a unique subdomain (e.g., multisite.domain.com).
Select your Multisite network and click on Proceed
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Enabling WordPress Multisite is an irreversible action. Once activated, network configurations become a permanent part of your WordPress installation. Reverting to a single-site setup requires significant manual intervention, often involving database and file system changes. Therefore, it's crucial to fully understand the implications and confirm this is your desired long-term architecture before proceeding.
Before activation, the system automatically checks for existing network configurations to prevent misconfigurations and ensure a smooth transition, especially in complex environments. If a configuration is found (for instance, from a .htaccess-powered hybrid stack), it will be automatically applied, overriding any user selections. This intelligent detection is particularly useful when migrating to a lightning stack, as it maintains continuity and avoids conflicting settings. This pre-validation step greatly reduces the risk of operational disruptions, ensuring your WordPress Multisite environment functions correctly from the start, regardless of previous hosting or configuration.
Disable WordPress Multisite
To disable WordPress Multisite:
Go to your Application Settings and select the WordPress Settings tab.
Toggle off the WordPress Multisite option
Next, you will be asked to confirm the selection. Therefore, click Confirm.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Disabling the Multisite feature on your server will exclusively affect the server-level configuration only. It's crucial to understand that this action will not alter your existing WordPress settings in any way. All subsites that were part of your Multisite network, their respective content directories, and any associated database tables will remain completely intact and untouched. This means that while the server-side Multisite functionality is removed, your WordPress installation will retain all the data and structure of its individual subsites, allowing for potential re-enablement or manual migration if desired.
FAQs
Q) Is WordPress installation supported in a subdirectory?
Configurations applied through the platform interface are only applicable to the webroot of the application. If you are using a "lighting stack," a subdirectory installation will not work because the necessary multisite configurations will be missing. In such cases, we recommend switching to a "hybrid stack," which allows you to utilize .htaccess to apply configurations as per your requirements.
Q) I am getting the following error: Incomplete Multisite network detected. Please complete the wp-config.php setup manually.
A) This probably means your site have incomplete settings within wp-config.php this mostly happens when you only have define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true ); in your wp-config.php or incomplete settings. To resolve this we request to follow the following manual guide to resolve the issuel
Log in to your WordPress dashboard
Go to Tools > Network Setup
Choose between subdomains or subdirectories
Enter your network title and admin email
Update your wp-config.php file and .htaccess with the provided configuratio
That’s it! We hope this article was helpful. If you need any help, then feel free to search your query on Cloudways Support Center or contact us via chat (Need a Hand > Send us a Message). Alternatively, you can also create a support ticket.