Siteunfold – Convert Your Site to Multisite

Description

Enabling multisite by hand means following WordPress’s Network Setup steps: add a constant to wp-config.php, run the network installer, then copy two blocks of generated code into wp-config.php and .htaccess and log in again. Siteunfold does all of that for you from Tools → Convert to Multisite.

What it does

• Checks first that the conversion can work. The site must not already be a network, wp-config.php must be writable, WordPress must be able to write files directly, and the site address must be one WordPress accepts. It also checks whether sub-directories or sub-domains are possible, and whether the rewrite rules can be written.
• Creates the network database tables with WordPress core’s own installer, the same one the Network Setup screen uses.
• Adds the multisite constants to wp-config.php, above the “stop editing” line. Constants that are already defined are left alone, so running it twice never adds duplicates.
• Replaces the WordPress block in .htaccess with the multisite rewrite rules core would have asked you to paste.
• Keeps your permalink structure. WordPress’s own installer resets it (to /blog/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/ on sub-directory networks), which would change every existing URL; the plugin puts yours back.
• Takes you to the new Network Admin.

You can choose sub-directories (example.com/site1) or sub-domains (site1.example.com). Options that WordPress does not allow on your install are disabled, with the reason. For example, WordPress disables sub-directories once a site has posts older than a month, and sub-domains are not possible on localhost or an IP address.

Revert to a single site

Changed your mind? Network Admin → Settings → Revert to Single Site turns the network back into a single site, as long as it still holds only the main site. It removes the multisite constants from wp-config.php, restores the standard .htaccess rules, keeps network-activated plugins active, and deletes the network tables. Posts, pages, media, users and settings of the main site are not touched.

The revert refuses to run when it could lose something: when other sites exist (their tables and uploads would be orphaned), or when your account has no Administrator role on the main site (super admin rights disappear with the network, so you would be locked out).

Privacy

Siteunfold does not collect, store or send any personal data, and it contains no tracking.

When you choose sub-domains, WordPress core’s network installer (populate_network()) makes one HTTP request to a random sub-domain of your own site, to check that wildcard DNS works. That request goes only to your own domain.