{"id":11951,"date":"2022-06-07T11:50:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T09:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/?post_type=faq&#038;p=11951"},"modified":"2024-07-25T20:58:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T18:58:04","slug":"create-wordpress-multisite-network","status":"publish","type":"faq","link":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/knowledge-base\/faq\/create-wordpress-multisite-network\/","title":{"rendered":"How to create a WordPress Multisite Network"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The multisite network feature is a powerful, hidden functionality inside every WordPress system. A <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/article\/glossary\/#multisite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multisite<\/a> allows you to setup separate WP websites inside one WordPress installation. It also can be used for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/product\/wordpress-multilingual-multisite\/\">WP Multisite translations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>WP Network Examples<\/h2>\n<p>A Multisite can be used for multiple customer websites or a multilingual setup. Below are two examples of this use cases.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-1478979167\">\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1216420337\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Name: My Agency Network<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Customer Website 1<\/li>\n<li>Customer Website 2<\/li>\n<li>Customer Website 3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"col-373721621\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Name: My Multilingual Multisite<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>German Site<\/li>\n<li>English Site<\/li>\n<li>Spanish Site<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<\/div>\n<h2>Benefits of a Multisite<\/h2>\n<p>There are many reasons why you can or should use a multisite instead of a single WP site. Here are some benefits of using a multisite instead of other translation plugins:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>All sites share the same Themes &amp; Plugins<br \/><\/strong>Extensions &amp; Designs can be activated per site or globally. You can share new functionalities inside your network directly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sites can still be independent\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>You can setup a custom navigation menu for your German site for example. Or use custom payment provider for your WooCommerce shop only in your Spanish Site.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Central Maintenance &amp; Backend<\/strong><br \/>You only have to update extensions &amp; themes once. Furthermore the network admin can access all sites with a single click. Users can only have access to specific subsites.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Performance<\/strong><br \/>Instead of saving all translations or post data inside ONE posts and postmeta table, in a multisite every site has it&#8217;s own tables. German Shop orders will not affect Spanish site for example.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"row align-center\"  id=\"row-1539461036\">\n\n\t<div id=\"col-891061238\" class=\"col medium-10 small-12 large-10\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<div class=\"video video-fit mb\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><p><iframe title=\"Translating a WordPress Website by Example using WP Multilingual Multisite\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fSSqkZMix-U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<\/div>\n<h2>How to Setup a Multisite<\/h2>\n<p>Setting up a multisite is fairly simple. You need a single, running WP site before. That can be an existing or a complete new site. Then follow these simple steps:<\/p>\n<h3>Backup &amp; Disable Plugins<\/h3>\n<p>Make sure all files &amp; databases are backed up before creating a multisite.<\/p>\n<h3>Allow Multisite &amp; Create Network<\/h3>\n<p>Add the following line into your wp-config.php file before &#8220;\/* That&#8217;s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. *\/ &#8220;<\/p>\n<pre>define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );\n<\/pre>\n<p>After that refresh your site, go to your backend &gt; Tools &gt; Network setup. Click on Install.<\/p>\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_945111853\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1364\" height=\"686\" src=\"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network.png\" class=\"attachment-original size-original\" alt=\"create a wordpress multisite network\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network.png 1364w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network-247x124.png 247w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network-510x256.png 510w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network-300x151.png 300w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/create-a-wordpress-multisite-network-768x386.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1364px) 100vw, 1364px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_945111853 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"gap-1681616359\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-1681616359 {\n  padding-top: 30px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>After that you will get some config &amp; .htaccess adjustments you need to do. By default WP always wants to create a subdomain installation. For multilingual purpose we do recommend the <strong>Subdirectory installation<\/strong>. First you do not need new SSL certificates for each domain + you can have your setup like domain.com\/en\/ and domain.com\/es\/.<\/p>\n<h3>WP Multisite Subdirectory Config<\/h3>\n<p>Replace the previous added allow_multisite config with the code below. Set subdomain install to true if you want to use custom domains per language or for agency &lt;&gt; clients setup.<\/p>\n<pre>define( 'MULTISITE', true );\ndefine( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false );\ndefine( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'www.yourdomain.com' );\ndefine( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '\/' );\ndefine( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );\ndefine( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );<\/pre>\n<h3>htaccess adjustments<\/h3>\n<p>Next replace the default WP .htaccess lines with these ones:<\/p>\n<pre># BEGIN WordPress\nRewriteEngine On\nRewriteBase \/\nRewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]\n\n# add a trailing slash to \/wp-admin\nRewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+\/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin\/ [R=301,L]\n\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d\nRewriteRule ^ - [L]\nRewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+\/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]\nRewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+\/)?(.*.php)$ $2 [L]\nRewriteRule . index.php [L]\n# END WordPress<\/pre>\n<p>That is it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>View your Multisite<\/h2>\n<p>When everything is installed correctly you will now see in your WordPress site a new tab on top right called &#8220;<strong>My Sites<\/strong>&#8220;. From here you can see all sites and configure your network.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When using your multilingual multisite plugin you are also able to copy an existing site to a new one.<\/p>\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_1818520985\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"383\" height=\"184\" src=\"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/wp-network-admin-screen.png\" class=\"attachment-original size-original\" alt=\"wp network admin screen\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/wp-network-admin-screen.png 383w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/wp-network-admin-screen-300x144.png 300w, https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/06\/wp-network-admin-screen-247x119.png 247w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_1818520985 {\n  width: 55%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","product_cat":[],"class_list":["post-11951","faq","type-faq","status-publish","hentry","faq_topics-multilingual-multisite-getting-started","faq_topics-multisite-sync-getting-started"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/11951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/faq"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11951"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/11951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18344,"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/11951\/revisions\/18344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welaunch.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=11951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}