Multisite: 500 Internal Server Error on launch of dashboard

Further conversation with GoDaddy reveals that “you must install separate iterations of WordPress into each subdomain under shared hosting”. Am I missing something? I thought that the entire point of Multisite is to run two (or multiple) blogs under one site without having to configure each blog as it’s own site? No?
“A multisite network is a collection of sites that all share the same WordPress installation.” Has anyone made this work using shared hosting on GoDaddy with a dedicated IP?

Thanks… argh.

On the aforementioned posting (referenced above) Ipstenu suggested that I point my subdomain to “/public_html/” as a solution, but (maybe silly question) what if that folder is empty? Meaning I have a /public_html folder but that’s not where WP is installed…? It’s installed at root. How do I point the subdomain to root, because the public_html folder solution didn’t work.

Later… pointed at “root” and still 500 Internal Server Error…

I realize that this has been a “think out loud” kind of posting, but it may be helpful to others who are encountering these same troubles…

I just contacted “webhostinghub” to see if they offer better service and the sales rep said that Multisite is best done on a dedicated server, and that the resource demand on shared hosting is more than they will allow. I can only assume that GoDaddy could be preventing this from functioning for the same reasons…? May just toss in the towel on Multisite… Anyone want to talk me out of it?

Further conversation with GoDaddy reveals that “you must install separate iterations of WordPress into each subdomain under shared hosting”.

Ignore that for a bit, GoDaddy’s ‘weird.’

You CAN use MultiSite on GoDaddy hosting (they’ve said so in these forums), but it’s not really supported from their end. I have no idea why.

Meaning I have a /public_html folder but that’s not where WP is installed…? It’s installed at root. How do I point the subdomain to root, because the public_html folder solution didn’t work.

What do you mean ‘root’? You mean like /home/trinity/?

You’re supposed to install WP in the root HTML folder. Looking at https://support.godaddy.com/help/article/1360 it’s /home/<username>/public_html/ for a Cpanel install.

Hello Ipstenu,
Just checked in my GoDaddy FTP File manager, and it’s installed in the “html” folder, so I’m switching the subdomain path to “/html” and updating now to see if that does it.
So the “can’t run Multisite on shared hosting” is “bunk”?

Eureka! Thank you! You’re brilliant! The WordPress install at GoDaddy is at “/html”, so the subdomain path to set at GoDaddy is: /html (if you did the “regular” install). No more 500 Internal Server Error! Wahoo!

Another question (naturally), now that the subdomain site is up, shouldn’t it be calling upon the “network enabled theme”? For some reason it’s defaulting to Twenty Eleven with non of my plugins activated?

Yay! ?? Yeah, html is fine. (FWIW, hosts can set up that html folder any which way from Sunday, so it’s impossible for anyone to say ‘THIS is yours…’ without looking at your server. It’s annoying!)

Another question (naturally), now that the subdomain site is up, shouldn’t it be calling upon the “network enabled theme”? For some reason it’s defaulting to Twenty Eleven with non of my plugins activated?

That’s by design. To set your default theme for all (future) sites see: https://wpmututorials.com/how-to/change-the-default-theme-for-sites-without-a-plugin/

Basically, something like this on your config file:
define('WP_DEFAULT_THEME', 'classic');

where ‘classic’ is replaced with the folder name of your theme.

It still won’t bring over your widgets though, those are per-site.

Ummm… nope. I placed the above line into the config file, uploaded and replaced, but still getting Twenty Eleven.

Hang on… checking out next bit of code:
define( ‘TEMPLATEPATH’, ‘/path/to/themes/folder/name-of-parent-theme’);

Uh-oh, now I killed it…back to a 500 Internal Server Error… astrology.luminancecoaching.com…
Already tried going back to the old wp-config…

Thoughts?

What did you put your theme to? Should be define('WP_DEFAULT_THEME', 'name-of-parent-theme');

Remember I said for all FUTURE themes, as well. So this won’t change your existing one, you have to do that one manually.

As for the subdomain error, I get an error 403 at the top, AND a 500. What’s in the .htaccess?

You did indeed say “future” didn’t you…

Removed that bit of “theme” code for the moment and went back to previous wp-config… didn’t alter the .htaccess since that last time I updated according the “Create a Network” instructions. Could that have gotten hosed? Perhaps I should replace again?

What’s in there now is:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Yes, getting 403 and 500…

It can get hosed, but that’s a good one.

Two thoughts come to mind. One, I know that years ago GoDaddy had weird caching issues with .htaccess which would cause it to appear and disappear for a while until all their servers caught up. You’re on a dedicated IP, though, so that shouldn’t happen.

The other is that you should see if your control panel (I believe you have simple control panel – https://support.godaddy.com/help/4594/access-your-servers-simple-control-panel ) and look in the error logs for anything that caused the 500.

Nope, don’t have simple control panel. At GoDaddy, that’s a function of having a dedicated server, I’m shared. I’ll see if I can find an error log, and I’ll let you know what I find.
Thanks again!

Ah… the plot thickens… when I set the subdomain to /html an “html” folder was created. As there is nothing in that folder, that’s when we got the 500 error again. Not sure why it came up in the first place once we set the subdomain to /html…? I believe that’s also how I got the empty public_html folder, when I pointed the subdomain at that path.

For some strange reason, my error log has to be generated and according to GoDaddy that could take a while… not sure why it was “off” to begin with, but won’t know what’s going on with that for a GoDaddy “while”.

So… do we know for a fact that anyone has gotten this to run on shared hosting with GoDaddy? Losing heart here…

OK… We’re back in action! Turns out that for GoDaddy you’ve got to connect the subdomain to the root directory so it this case the “folder path” is simply “/”.

Thanks for your help, Half-Elf!! Now it’s on to configuring… ??