Can't add new plugin or themes on a wordpress multisite network from the primary site as administrator. Error: ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS

Question

I can't add new plugins or themes on a wordpress multisite network from the primary site as super administrator. It shows this error: ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS. However, I am able to access all pages, login to each site's dashboard or even make changes to existing codes for installed plugins or themes. I am not able to install any new ones and the network is stuck in a loop.

However, the problem can be avoided if I turn off the multisite option using the following code in wp-config.php:

define('MULTISITE', false);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);

Is there any permanent fix to this, where I do not need to disable my multisite network to add new plugins or themes?

Here is a copy of my wp-config.php (authentication/secrets have been removed for security purposes):

<?php
/**
 * The base configuration for WordPress
 *
 * The wp-config.php creation script uses this file during the
 * installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can
 * copy this file to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
 *
 * This file contains the following configurations:
 *
 * * MySQL settings
 * * Secret keys
 * * Database table prefix
 * * ABSPATH
 *
 * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define( 'DB_NAME', '' );

/** MySQL database username */
define( 'DB_USER', '' );

/** MySQL database password */
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', '' );

/** MySQL hostname */
define( 'DB_HOST', '' );

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8' );

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define( 'DB_COLLATE', '' );

/**#@+
 * Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
 *
 * Change these to different unique phrases!
 * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
 * You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
 *
 * @since 2.6.0
 */
define( 'AUTH_KEY',         '' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  '' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_KEY',    '' );
define( 'NONCE_KEY',        '' );
define( 'AUTH_SALT',        '' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_SALT', '' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_SALT',   '' );
define( 'NONCE_SALT',       '' );

/**#@-*/

/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each
 * a unique prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix = '';

/**
 * For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
 *
 * Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
 * It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
 * in their development environments.
 *
 * For information on other constants that can be used for debugging,
 * visit the Codex.
 *
 * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Debugging_in_WordPress
 */
define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );
//define( 'WP_CACHE', true );
require_once( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/gd-config.php' );
define( 'FS_METHOD', 'direct' );
define( 'FS_CHMOD_DIR', (0705 & ~ umask()) );
define( 'FS_CHMOD_FILE', (0604 & ~ umask()) );

/* Multisite */
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', '' );
define( 'ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', '/' );
define( 'COOKIEPATH', '/' );
define( 'SITECOOKIEPATH', '/' );

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
    define( 'ABSPATH', dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/' );
}

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php' );

Here is a copy of my .htaccess:

# BEGIN WordPress
# The directives (lines) between `BEGIN WordPress` and `END WordPress` are
# dynamically generated, and should only be modified via WordPress filters.
# Any changes to the directives between these markers will be overwritten.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
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]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

I have tried the following:

1. Clearing the browsing history, cookie, cache - did not work
2. Disabling all active plug-ins from the primary site - did not work
3. Disabling the current theme - did not work
4. Renaming the .htaccess file to something else - did not work

I tried running the url through the redirect-checker.org and this is the message they provided, the first url is the url that opens when I click on "Add new plugin" the second url is the url that wordpress is redirecting and gets stuck in the loop.

http://example.com/wp-admin/plugin-install.php
302 Found

http://example.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fplugin-install.php&reauth=1
200 OK

I would appreciate any your kind help and look forward to your response.

Cheers

Answer 1

Here's the answer for you question about WordPress Multisite plugin issue, To install a plugin on a WordPress multisite, you need to visit My Sites » Network Admin » Plugins. enter link description here