Title: SQL Error on Install to Subdirectory
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# SQL Error on Install to Subdirectory

 *  Resolved [aengineer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aengineer/)
 * (@aengineer)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/)
 * I’m reinstalling WP after an experimental install that worked fine (after some
   help here). This time, anticipating multiple future blogs I installed it in a
   subdirectory. The path is like: [http://jcm2044.net/WP1/BLOG1/](http://jcm2044.net/WP1/BLOG1/)
 * So far as I could tell I did not need to alter the wp-config.php file from before,
   although I decided to anticipate future installations by changing the table prefix
   from the default.
 * wp-config.php now reads (with security editing of the userid and password
 * <?php
    // ** MySQL settings ** // define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘ABC_WP’); // The name of
   the database define(‘DB_USER’, ‘DEF’); // Your MySQL username define(‘DB_PASSWORD’,‘
   GHIJ’); // …and password define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘mysql8.ixwebhosting.com’); // 99%
   chance you won’t need to change this value
 * // You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
   prefix
    $table_prefix = ‘AT_ ‘; // Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 * // Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the
    // chosen
   language must be installed to wp-includes/languages. // For example, install 
   de.mo to wp-includes/languages and set WPLANG to ‘de’ // to enable German language
   support. define (‘WPLANG’, ”);
 * /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
 * define(‘ABSPATH’, dirname(__FILE__).’/’);
    require_once(ABSPATH.’wp-settings.
   php’); ?>
 * When I get to step-2 of the installation I now get a page full of errors like
   the following:
 * WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual
   that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near‘
   usermeta ( umeta_id bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment, use]
    CREATE TABLE AT_
   usermeta ( umeta_id bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment, user_id bigint(20) NOT
   NULL default ‘0’, meta_key varchar(255) default NULL, meta_value longtext, PRIMARY
   KEY (umeta_id), KEY user_id (user_id), KEY meta_key (meta_key) )
 * What have I done to try and fix the problem?
    1) Deleted the old database and
   created the new one 2) Checked that my user permissions are full admin 3) Forced
   a reset of the password
 * None of these worked.
 * – Does WP not allow multiple subdirectories such as I’ve created?
    – Do I have
   to change a path variable somewhere?
 * Suggestions?
 * Thanks
 * Jim Mitchell

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468261)
 * 1. Just for the record: your example is a sub-subdirectory!
    2. I’d stick to 
   lower case with directory names. 3. I have WP installed even in a subdirectory
   of a subdomain, like subdomain.example.com/blog and it works. 4. I have installed
   WP in a subdirectory on ixwebhosting and it worked.
 *  Thread Starter [aengineer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aengineer/)
 * (@aengineer)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468357)
 * I tried to follow moshu’s advice – with no luck. Here’s what I did.
    – deleted
   all the files – changed the directories to lower case – it’s now jcm2044.net/
   wp/at – unzipped the wp file into a folder locally – moved those files into the
   local …./jcm2044.net/wp/at folder – edited the wp-config.php file in dreamweaver
   to the same state as before except now the table prefix is “at_” – uploaded all
   the files via dreamweaver – ran the install script.
 * As before, step 2 produces lots of SQL errors – the first few are below.
 * I’m baffled.
 * Jim Mitchell
 * *******************
 * Second Step
 * Now we’re going to create the database tables and fill them with some default
   data.
 * WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual
   that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near‘
   usermeta ( umeta_id bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment, use]
    CREATE TABLE at_
   usermeta ( umeta_id bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment, user_id bigint(20) NOT
   NULL default ‘0’, meta_key varchar(255) default NULL, meta_value longtext, PRIMARY
   KEY (umeta_id), KEY user_id (user_id), KEY meta_key (meta_key) )
 * WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual
   that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near‘
   options (option_name, option_value, option_description, autoloa]
    INSERT INTO
   at_ options (option_name, option_value, option_description, autoload) VALUES (‘
   siteurl’, ‘[http://jcm2044.net/wp/at&#8217](http://jcm2044.net/wp/at&#8217);,‘
   WordPress web address’, ‘yes’)
 * WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual
   that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near‘
   options (option_name, option_value, option_description, autoloa]
    INSERT INTO
   at_ options (option_name, option_value, option_description, autoload) VALUES (‘
   blogname’, ‘My Weblog’, ‘Blog title’, ‘yes’)
 * ……………
 *  [MichaelH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/michaelh/)
 * (@michaelh)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468365)
 * You are sure it’s a MySQL database you’ve created and not a PostgreSQL?
 *  Thread Starter [aengineer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aengineer/)
 * (@aengineer)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468416)
 * Yes I’m sure. I installed it to the same database using almost exactly the same
   wp-config.php file two days before (and deleted all those tables before starting
   to install this time – as well as changing the prefix).
 * The reason I started again was that I anticipate having multiple blogs and decided
   to have a directory structure in which all blogs live in a directory named “wp”
 * Jim Mitchell
 *  Thread Starter [aengineer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aengineer/)
 * (@aengineer)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468507)
 * I finally got it installed. To do so I had to take the following steps and am
   not sure which one solved the problem.
 * 1) Deleted all previous WP folders locally and on the server
    2) Deleted the 
   DB on the server and then recreated it 3) Forced new password on the database–
   same as old one 4) Unpacked WP to the folder where I wanted it, then renamed 
   that folder to the name I wanted “at”, rather than copying files to the “at” 
   folder from somewhere else. 5) Recreated the wp-config.php file, exactly as before,
   but typing in the information afresh.
 * Somehow this did it.
 * Hmmmmm.
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468508)
 * I can’t figure out which of those made it to work… but hey! The good news is 
   it works, finally. Glad to hear that and happy blogging.
 * [and mark the thread solved]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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## Tags

 * [installation](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/installation/)
 * [sql](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/sql/)
 * [usermeta](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/usermeta/)

 * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/)
 * 6 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * Last activity: [19 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sql-error-on-install-to-subdirectory/#post-468508)
 * Status: resolved

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