Title: Multisite Path Based Errors
Last modified: April 26, 2020

---

# Multisite Path Based Errors

 *  [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * (@brucemurraynz)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/)
 * I have been trying to set up Multisite as a test but am continually running into
   the issue where both the WP-admin and the Front end of the website for anything
   other than the parent site is riddled with 404 not found errors in the console
 * The site parent site is [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/)
   and this works fine.
    - Installation is in a domain root folder (/home/user/mb-multistore.dev-sites.
      nz)
    - htaccess file is configured correctly
    -     ```
          RewriteEngine On
          RewriteBase /
          RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [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]
      
          # php -- BEGIN cPanel-generated handler, do not edit
          # Set the “ea-php72” package as the default “PHP” programming language.
          <IfModule mime_module>
            AddHandler application/x-httpd-ea-php72 .php .php7 .phtml
          </IfModule>
          # php -- END cPanel-generated handler, do not edit
          ```
      
    - Any ideas?
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fmultisite-path-based-errors%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

 *  [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/)
 * (@jnashhawkins)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12732777)
 * If the WordPress was installed in the webroot then I’d expect WordPress to run
   when you visit [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/)
   instead of showing an almost empty directory (nothing but the cgi-bin).
 * I’m thinking you have WordPress installed in a blog directory somewhere on that
   server and have managed to point the subdomain at it somehow but I can’t begin
   to understand how you did it.
 * I will say, with the URLs you provided and the ones I was able to discover, I
   would have expected WordPress to run from the root directory. And it probably
   should be running from the webroot to do multisite properly.
 * Anyway, here is where I suspect your WordPress is installed…
 * [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/blog/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/blog/)
 * I think you might need to call your hosting provider for a bit of help here.
 *  Thread Starter [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * (@brucemurraynz)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12734442)
 * Hi [@jnashhawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/) – thanks
   for responding.
 * I’m not too sure how you saw the cgi-bin. I see the sample page up when i visit
   [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/) (Screenshot:
   [https://tinyurl.com/y8gpdb5f](https://tinyurl.com/y8gpdb5f)).
 * Wordpress definitely isn’t installed in a subfolder or at /blog (screenshot: 
   [https://tinyurl.com/y7gxwntz](https://tinyurl.com/y7gxwntz))
 * When i visit [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/test-site/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/test-site/)
   that is when i start seeing issues (screenshot: [https://tinyurl.com/y8ncfdca](https://tinyurl.com/y8ncfdca))
 *  [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/)
 * (@jnashhawkins)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12734469)
 * Yeah, it was kind of confusing last night but I was getting a directory listing…
 * And I also found this…
 * [https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/blog/2020/04/26/hello-world/](https://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/blog/2020/04/26/hello-world/)
   which gave me the ‘Hello World’ page from what I think should have been the network
   main site.
 * I think your host uses CPanel… Right?
 * In your CP, from the addon or subdomain buttons, does
 * > mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz
 *  point to the webroot as the same directory WordPress is installed in?
 *  Thread Starter [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * (@brucemurraynz)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12734709)
 * Yes it does
 * Sub Domain = mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz
    Doc Root = /mb-multistore.dev-sites.
   nz
 * Re the post – i didn’t delete the base post from when i installed WP
 *  [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/)
 * (@jnashhawkins)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12734861)
 * Shouldn’t the doc root be…
 * > /home
 * Also, the user directory isn’t normally where you would put the website… You 
   can but then you need to adjust all sorts of things to make that work as your
   webroot!
 * You really might want to ask your web host for help now as, if I’m right, then
   they might have the tools to quickly move things around and fix your problem.
 * And, if I’m wrong, they might be able to sort this out quickly and prevent my‘
   bad advice’ from confusing things further… Nobody knows their servers like your
   web host should.
 * The other option might be to just create an index.html file that you could easily
   recognize and drop it into the /home directory and see if that shows up as [http://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/](http://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/)
 * Here’s a test page if you have no better ideas…
 *     ```
       <html>
   
       <head>
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
       content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
       <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage Express 2.0">
       <title></title>
       </head>
   
       <body>
   
       <p><font size="7"><strong>Test Page!</strong></font></p>
   
       <p><font size="4"><strong>And nothing but test page!</strong></font></p>
   
       <p><font size="1"><strong>Been nice if there was a really cool
       picture</strong></font></p>
   
       <p><font size="1"><strong>of a horse, a truck, a deer, or
       something.</strong></font></p>
   
       <p><font size="2"><strong>But, no!!!!, All we get is a test page!</strong></font></p>
       </body>
       </html>
       ```
   
 * Just copy and paste to a file called index.html and drop it in the otherwise 
   empty directory. Don’t overwrite anything.
 *  Thread Starter [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * (@brucemurraynz)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12735025)
 * Spoke to my hosting company (Inmotion Hosting) and they said they don’t provide
   installation support for Multisite 🙁 I have a VPS with them with Root access
 * I deleted all existing sites and started again this time in /public_html/mb-multistore.
   dev-sites.nz
 * Base install of WP 5.4 via Softaculous with WPMU enabled
    No Plugins, No additional
   themes (installs with Twenty Twenty)
 * Again – no issues with the Main site mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz
 * As soon as i create the second site [http://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/test-site/](http://mb-multistore.dev-sites.nz/test-site/)
   i get issues
    – i can access wp-admin but the console is full of 404 errors –
   i can access a ‘front end’ but again console is full of errors, no styling or
   template
 *  [JNashHawkins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jnashhawkins/)
 * (@jnashhawkins)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12735125)
 * Big question?!
 * You mentioned the htaccess file early on but the 404 error I saw this time around
   showed an Nginx server instead of an Apache box. Is that an Nginx server? Htaccess
   doesn’t work on an Nginx box. The directives in the htaccess file must be converted
   to directives for the Nginx HTTP config file (whatever that is called. I can’t
   remember exactly).
 * I’ve been told a multisite can run from an Nginx box but I’ve never tried it.
   Too much like work for me.
 * This might be the reason the theme files for the subsite doesn’t work but you
   are on the right track otherwise with what I’ve seen this time around.
 * There is a slight issue in the main site but I think that might be a cache issue
   that will clear itself.
 *  Thread Starter [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * (@brucemurraynz)
 * [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12748766)
 * So found a good resolution. Don’t use Inmotion Hosting for Multisite. Went to
   Siteground and was up and running pretty much straight away.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

The topic ‘Multisite Path Based Errors’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Networking WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/multisite/)
 * 8 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [brucemurraynz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brucemurraynz/)
 * Last activity: [6 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/multisite-path-based-errors/#post-12748766)
 * Status: not resolved

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