subdomains not part of multinetwork

I installed a multi network with no errors, but every time I create a subdomain it seems like its not part of the network. normally in the subdomains, it would list plugins or themes that are network activated and available but its completely blank as if it was a completely separate install.
I also have the woo commerce multistore plugin which pulls products from other sites on a multinetwork and shows them in the main multinetwork installation, however, is cannot see the products either which makes me believe that are not connected or seeing eath other.

there are no error messages anywhere. so if someone could pretend I’ve never done this before, what would be the process to add subdomains correctly?
1. “add new site” fill in the details. and create.
2. in the FTP go to the folder where the domain was created eg, test.test.com
(the multinetwork is installed in the root, and each domain has its own folder in the root eg test.test.com)
3. install WordPress (does it need anything special added in wp-config?)

just trying to cover anything atm
Thanks