Cookies in Multisite network where sites have their own domain name?

Question

I decided to integrate several standalone WordPress websites into a single Multisite installation.

I created a brand new Multisite install with subdomains, created a MU network site with subdomain URL, and exported the content from the original standalone site, then imported that content into the subdomain MU site. I then deleted the original standalone site from cPanel, and set the MU site's domain name to the original domain name.

The main site loads fine now on its original domain name, but when I try to login to the subdomain site at site.example.com/wp-admin/ (using the brand new multisite's network admin user credentials), I receive an error:

ERROR: Cookies are blocked or not supported by your browser. You must enable cookies to use WordPress.

But cookies are enabled in Chrome.

I tried adding the following to wp-config.php:

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', false);

...but the issue remains.

The same issue occurs if I use WP Migrate DB Pro to pull in a standalone website into a MU subdomain site, then delete the standalone site from cPanel, and then set the MU subdomain site's domain to be the original standalone site's domain name... the site's frontend loads fine, but I just can't login to WP admin.

Answer 1

First clear your browser's cache (including cookies), and your server's cache (e.g. cache plugins). Then set the following in your wp-config.php file:

define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
define('COOKIEPATH', '');
define('SITECOOKIEPATH', '');

Also, you may checkout the answer from HERE:

define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'example.com');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('SUNRISE', 'on');

If it still fails, then read this answer or contact your server's support. There may be a configuration issue on the server.

Answer 2

Using WordPress version 4.9.4.

I was getting the cookie error and looked through various help options and eventually solved it by using a parts of Scott's fix. (Note: I didn't do any cookie cache clearing.)

1. Editing out sunrise.php line in wp-config.php (I was using native domain mapping so removed the MU plugin install changes that I'd made )

2. Adjusted my wp-config.php to

   /* Multisite */
   
   define('WP_DEBUG', false);
   
   define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );
   
   define('MULTISITE', true);
   define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
   define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'www.mysite.example');
   define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
   define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
   define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
   /* define( ‘COOKIE_DOMAIN’, $_SERVER[ ‘HTTP_HOST’ ] ); */
   
   define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');
   define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
   define('COOKIEPATH', '');
   define('SITECOOKIEPATH', '');
   
   /* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
   

Answer 3

Finally after hours, literally, of troubleshooting I was able to get this resolved on the AWS Lightsail Bitnami Multisite Wordpress (WordPress 5.0.4) instance by performing the following:

1. Ensure the WPMU Domain Mapping plugin is disabled

2. Edit /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-config.php...

   a. Add the following:

    define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');
    define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
    define('COOKIEPATH', '');
    define('SITECOOKIEPATH', '');
   
    /* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
   

   b. Comment out:

   // define('SUNRISE', 'on');
   

After these changes, login was successful - no errors. Thanks for everyone's input. If it was not for that, I would still be scratching my head.

I did find the answer here:

https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/apps/wordpress-multisite/configuration/configure-wordpress-multisite

This domain mapping functionality is included in WordPress Multisite since v4.5. If you’re using an older version, you will need the WordPress MU Domain Mapping plugin.

So it appears that the WPMU Domain Mapping plugin is unnecessarily included in the AWS Lightsail Bitnami Multisite package.

Answer 4

I just finished troubleshooting a similar issue with subdomain multisite.

With:

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);

The site was still throwing a cookie error and in some instances of trying what was suggested above.........

define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
define('COOKIEPATH', '');
define('SITECOOKIEPATH', ''); 

This caused a different error to delete defines referencing "COOKIE_DOMAIN" upon visiting subsites.

Finally I was able to login after making sure both of these were defined just above the multisite network information

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');

Try making sure these are both defined. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

I commented out define('SUNRISE', 'on');

/* define('SUNRISE', 'on'); */
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');

Then, I don't see the below error message:

ERROR: Cookies are blocked or not supported by your browser. You must enable cookies to use WordPress.

Login also started working.

Answer 6

So I was having this issue as well and came across a lot of solutions like the ones mentioned here but they didn't work.

What did work was simply adding the following to the multisite configuration in wp-config:

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', false);

so that the section in wp-config looks like so:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'example.com');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', false);

posting here so that others may find it and spend less time banging their head against their desk than I did.

Answer 7

Don't know about you folks, but for me it helped surprisingly much to change this

define( 'COOKIEDOMAIN', '' );

to this

define( 'COOKIE_DOMAIN', '' );

And yes, I still dare to consider myself an experienced PHP & WP developer. Just wanted to share that it happens to all of us. :)

Answer 8

define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
//define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'masterdigitalservices.com');
//define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
//define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
//define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);

Here's my new wp-config. Looks like it got hardcoded to be a specific site, and wasn't letting other domains work -- only subdomains. Great answers here.

Answer 9

I was having this issue as well, and nothing I did helped. Tried it in Microsoft Edge, and didn't get the error.

So in my case at least, it was just Google Chrome causing the problem.

Answer 10

Strangely it worked for me (on more than one multisites) to set SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL to false. To be honest, I hadn't had time to investigate further why ...

define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);

Answer 11

THIS FIXED IT FOR ME I had not setup WordPress fully for the new domain name. I had created my site subdomain.domain.com I then wanted to remain as newdomain.com over subdomain.domain.com This required

1. WordPress network > admin > site, change site to new name (which I had already done, site was working)
2. WordPress network > admin > settings > domains, add in new name to site ID and tick yes for primary domain (to indicate this name is the primary name). To find site ID, you can hover over the network > admin > site which will say which site ID you are working on. Hope this helps anyone who was getting the cookies are blocked or not supported message when trying to login Best wishes SamTapsell

Answer 12

I was able to resolve the issue after adding the below in wp-config.php. Reference

define( 'COOKIEPATH', preg_replace( '|https?://[^/]+|i', '', get_option( 'home' ) . '/' ) );
define( 'SITECOOKIEPATH', preg_replace( '|https?://[^/]+|i', '', get_option( 'siteurl' ) . '/' ) );
define( 'ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', SITECOOKIEPATH . 'wp-admin' );
define( 'PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH', preg_replace( '|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_PLUGIN_URL ) );

Answer 13

I solved the problem with this:

Change the setting of DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE in wp-config.php to:

 define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);

So my setup is this:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);

Then I could login to all multisite website on url e.g. web1.example.com/wp-admin or web2.example.com/wp-admin.

Answer 14

This is what we are using on SlickStack for Multisite installations... it works for both subdomain networks and/or custom domain names as well:

define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
define('NOBLOGREDIRECT', 'https://example.com');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);

And then:

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', false);
define('COOKIEPATH', '');
define('SITECOOKIEPATH', '');
define('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/');

Answer 15

Please try adding the following to your wp-config.php file

Also remove all cookies from your browser before testing

define( 'COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER[ 'HTTP_HOST' ] );