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While it’s relatively straightforward to set up, uninstalling it can be a challenge for the uninitiated.
In this Weekend WordPress Project, I’ll show you how to quickly uninstall Multisite and get your site back to running a single WordPress install.
Removing Multisite involves undoing all of the work you did to install it in the first place. Let’s go through it step by step:
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Login to your WordPress site via FTP or cPanel, whichever method you prefer. If you’re using cPanel, go to File Manager to access your site’s files.
Open your wp-config.php file and delete the following code:
| define( ‘MULTISITE’, true ); | |
| define( ‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false ); | |
| $base = ‘/wordpress/’; | |
| define( ‘DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE’, ‘localhost’ ); | |
| define( ‘PATH_CURRENT_SITE’, ‘/wordpress/’ ); | |
| define( ‘SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE’, 1 ); | |
| define( ‘BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE’, 1 ); |
You will also need to edit the following line in your wp-config.php file and set it to “false”:
| define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true); |
Next, you will need to edit your .htaccess file, which is in the root of your WordPress install. Replace the rules you added to create your Multisite install with the following new rules:
| RewriteEngine On | |
| RewriteBase /wordpress/ | |
| RewriteRule ^index.php$ – [L] | |
| # uploaded files | |
| RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L] | |
| # add a trailing slash to /wp-admin | |
| RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L] | |
| RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR] | |
| RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d | |
| RewriteRule ^ – [L] | |
| RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L] | |
| RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*.php)$ $2 [L] | |
| RewriteRule . index.php [L] |
Lastly, you will need to drop the following global tables in your database. phpMyAdmin is probably the easiest software to do this with if you use cPanel, though you can use whatever method you like:
The next time you log in to your site Multisite should be gone from your WordPress install.
Wouldn’t it be easier if there weren’t so many steps for installing and uninstalling Multisite? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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