Unable to login to admin dashboard after setting up multisite

Question

I'm fairly new to WordPress and now having a problem with multisite set-up. I manage to follow the steps to get the code to add both to wp-config and .htaccess files, but after saving the changes and trying to login back to WordPress to continue setting subdomains up, I'm suddenly not able to login back to the admin view. I'm working on the localhost, and when I sign-on via http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/ I just end up seeing by blog UI, but now admin dashboard/tools "around it". Something definitely works as there are no error messages or redirecting issues when I log in, but just the admin view is missing.

I have tried to clean up the browser history and also login with different browsers, but with no success. Also, I have disabled plugins.

I wonder if someone has had a similar issue and can help out?

Answer 1

"White screen of death" or similar problems usually indicate a 'fatal' plugin problem.

You should look at the error.log file (usually in your site root, but could also be in the wp-admin folder) via your FTP/host File Manager, and look at the latest error. It will usually tell you the file that caused the problem.

If it is a plugin folder, temporarily rename that folder via FTP/File Manager and reload the admin page. It should come up.

Then you can investigate the plugin via it's support page (better there than here).

You can also post the error here, but I suspect a plugin is causing the error.

Answer 2

This could be a difficult one to answer remotely, so here are some things to check. Just maybe something in this response points you in the right direction: The steps I usually follow when implementing multi-site:

1. Turn off all plugins;
2. Copy wp-config.php and .htaccess file;
3. Open wp-config.php and add define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true) just above the stop editing;
4. In WordPress admin, go to Tools >Network Setup. You’ll be prompted to choose subdomains or subdirectories for your installation: choose the one that works for your network;
5. Edit the title of the network and email address of the network administrator when prompted, or leave them as they are;
6. Click install;
7. Update wp-config.php and .htaccess as directed in on the installation screen.

The .htaccess file should look something like this:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^wp-admin$ wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

# END WordPress

Other settings you may need to use in your wp-config.php are

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

If you find something in here, great, otherwise, sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Answer 3

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 4

I have my Wordpress installation on AWS Lightsail, I had the same issue after turning multisite option on, so I've rebooted my Lightsail instance and then I was able to login to Dashboard panel correctly.

Answer 5

I faced the same issue. It is just a matter of resetting everything in the browser.

I just reopened the browser in the private mode and everything returned to normal

Answer 6

Well Are you using a proxy? I use cloudflare, having encountered the same problem. You should use https, not only your browser, but when cloudflare connecting to your origin. You can do this by generating a cloudflare source certificate on the ssl/tls tab.
I discovered this when I searched the internet, one instructions told me to modify wp-login.php , where the cookie was set to secure. That means cookie should be transferred via https. The instructions told me to modify the line, but i don't want to make compensation on security.