How to disable multisite





Running multiple sites like this may not be for everyone. You may have decided to switch back. It’s pretty easy, so here’s how.

Delete any extra sites you may have created. Move the content and users to the main blog or wherever you desire.

Remove the lines we added in the wp-config.php file.

Restore the .htaccess file to the default. One the multisite lines are gone from the config file, you can usually restore these by resaving the permalinks.

Drop these global tables in the database:
wp_blogs
wp_blog_versions
wp_registration_log
wp_signups
wp_site
wp_sitemeta

This is an excerpt from the free ebook Create a Network in WordPress.

12 Comments

  1. Hello Andrea – altthough i do not want to disable multisite completely, i would like to move several sites from the sub-sites to their own uniwque installation of WordPress using their own URL. So basically migrating from multisite to stand-alone, or single site… i have search here and WP support, but cannot find a step-by-step guide. Any thoughts?

    Thanks
    Mike

    • All you need to do is visit the backend of the site and go to Tools – Export.

      • Hi A.
        Thanks for the reply. From what i read it only brings in the data (posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags) what about themes, plugins, CSS, pages, etc?
        Do i need to install WP on the server, add the plugins, CSS and theme manualy, then import the data?
        Mike

  2. OK – thx.
    Just noticed you have a link to http://wpebooks.com/replicator/ on your site, have you used it to move a multisite?

    • It’s still one of our plugins and that’s not what it does. The replicator copies a blog *within* a network.

  3. I can’t’ find the wp- files. When O do to Appearances>Editor, i only see the theme files.

    • Appearances>Editor only allows you to access theme files.

      Go in via ftp or via the file manager in cpanel.

      Also, the long list in the above post is database *tables*, not files.

      • Thank you. This why I’m uninstalling. The extra layer of wholly unexplained changes in administering the site makes it too complex. I’m not a programmer and we only have three blogs so handling them with three installations will work better for us.

        (The “wp- files” mean wp-____ files. I couldn’t find anything with “wp- ” in front of it.)

  4. Hi, I installed and activated the multi site plugin on WordPress but want to go back to single site mode. I deactivated and deleted the multisite plugin but my WordPress admin area seems to think it’s still in multi site mode.

    I never created any other sites so there’s no other sites to delete or files to transfer, etc.

    I don’t understand the comment info above and suggestions to change wp files.

    Are you able to help please? Thanks.

  5. Andrea, you are always so helpful. I am very grateful for all the excellent advice you have given me.
    I have a WordPress multisite that always has memory errors. I am running WIshList Member on it and they don’t offer support for a multisite so I decided to peel this site off (it’s blog #3 on the installation). Because of the errors I didn’t really want to replicate the site or the errors would just come with it. I used FileZilla to back everything up (themes, plugins, etc.), I did an export of the wp_3_ database using phpMyAdmin. I scrubbed all the links to match the new domain and changed the tables to wp_ (that was a pain). Everything appears to be fine except I can’t add plugins. I’m guessing something still thinks this is a multisite but when I try and go to the Network Admin site I get the message:
    “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”
    I am using the original account that created the site. It is one of only 2 super admin accounts and neither can add plugins. There isn’t even an option anywhere to add a plugin.
    Do you have any idea of what I should check. I have read a ton of tutorials but none have fixed the issue…yet.
    Thanks for your help.

    Blessings,
    Wendy Merritt

Leave a Reply to SarahCancel Reply