home_url() trouble: Home page displays "Index of /wp/" also rewriting urls

… will not display the home page – only a listing of the index directory, and a link up to the parent directory

Are these cPanel add-on domains? In your cPanel go to Addon Domains and make sure that the Document Root is set to /public_html. My thought is that it’s set to something like /public_html/domain.com. That should fix both of your points.

Edit: Didn’t notice this the first time through, but your WP install is in /wp/ right? In that case you can’t map domains. It’s a limitation.

Hi Patrick, thanks for your reply!
Yes, WP is install is in /wp/ directory at the top level.

The document root for djxstation.com (addon domain) is
/public_html/djxstation.com and I have a redirect to https://djxstation.com/wp/home/

Document root for autodjpac.com was
/public_html/autodjpac.com/home-2 and not redirected. Hmm, that home-2 was my attempt to create a new home page. I removed it, but still get the index of /wp/autodjpac and no home page.

Should I remove the “domain.com” after /public_html/ or is there a problem that you can’t map domains? I’m not really sure what that means. Is there any way to re-write or re-direct so these websites look like their own websites and not part of some conglomerate? Or, do I need to ditch everything I’ve done and reinstall WP into the top level vs. in its own directory? That seems incredibly messy!
Thanks again,
Cindy

Should I remove the “domain.com” after /public_html/ or is there a problem that you can’t map domains? I’m not really sure what that means.

Unfortunately it’s only possible to map additional domains if WordPress is installed in the root directory of /public_html. If WordPress is in any other folder, like /wp/, the https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/ plugin won’t work.

This actually isn’t really specified on that Domain Mapping plugin page(s). I just added a note .

So you can either move /public_html/wp/ to /public_html/ (which is much trickier than it sounds) — see https://halfelf.org/2012/moving-wordpress-multisite/, or leave it like it is ??

I don’t recall adding the mu-domain-mapping plugin. How can you tell I’m using that? I didn’t specifically install it.

Is there any other way around this, such as domain mod-rewrite-engines or anything like that?
Otherwise, I’ve seen the nightmarishly long posts about moving the wordpress install and having trouble connecting to the database again. Is it even more complicated moving the multisite? The problem is, I’m quite sure my client won’t be ok with super-long piggy-backed URLs for the separate sites.

Another Question: Is it easier to make a “backup” of the wp install and files, then uninstall it and reinstall it at the top level? Or is that the 15-step process? Have people been successful moving the install up a level in a multisite install? And, if I do that, will the domain mapping actually work? I would hate to spend days moving and troubleshooting and re-setting-up the entire thing if it I still won’t be able to point my domain to a different URL.
Thank you.

I don’t recall adding the mu-domain-mapping plugin. How can you tell I’m using that? I didn’t specifically install it.

Well if you want to map domains to Multisite member sites then using that plugin is basically the only way to do it. There’s stuff that actually gets changed in the database so a rewrite tool doesn’t solve the entire challenge. If you can find a clean solution you’d be famous!

Well no matter what you do, take a backup first. I would say it’s easier to follow the guide rather than re-installing WordPress.

I would hate to spend days moving and troubleshooting and re-setting-up the entire thing if it I still won’t be able to point my domain to a different URL.

If you move it to /public_html you’ll be able to map domainX.com to domain.com/siteX or siteX.domain.com, etc.

my 3rd site (https://autodjpac.com/) will not display the home page – only a listing of the index directory, and a link up to the parent directory. I can manually type in the urls of the rest of the pages on that site, but any home links go back to the directory listing. Here is the home page for reference: https://djxstation.com/wp/autodjpac/home/

I just realized that the link to the home page that I can’t get to work in my first post is wrong. Here is an inner page url:
https://djxstation.com/wp/autodjpac/features/
and the home url is now redirected to:
https://djxstation.com/wp/autodjpac/home/

Why is this third site not even showing the home page? I thought that was a separate issue from the domain mapping, because it worked for the other 2 sites … so I’m confused now.

I thought that was a separate issue from the domain mapping, because it worked for the other 2 sites … so I’m confused now.

Yes, it’s a separate issue.

Does a /public_html/wp/autodjpac/ folder happen to exist? That’s basically the only reason it would show that index directory. If there is then you need to delete that folder. With WordPress Multisite you don’t create new sub sites through adding folders like that, WP takes care of it automagically ??

AutoMagically, wahoo! Thank you for finding the needle in that haystack, I could not figure out why it kept showing me that index directory. I found and deleted it, and now my home page displays, hooray!

Thanks very, very much for that. At least I feel like I fixed *something* ??

I will try to backup and then move the entire multisite tomorrow. Is there anything special about backing up a multisite install? I feel like I’ll miss something. And, how easy is it to restore if I need to? I’m hoping for a bulletproof backup plan, if you know what I mean! And thanks so much for the extra folder find!

Great ??

I will try to backup and then move the entire multisite tomorrow. Is there anything special about backing up a multisite install?

I see you’re using cPanel. Here’s probably the fastest way to make a backup.

File Backup –> Log in to your cPanel account. Hit File Manager in the “Files” section. Check Web Root and hit GO. Find your way to /public_html. WP folder should be there. Right click on the folder and hit Compress. It’ll do it’s thing and create a .zip file. Once it’s done hit reload. Download a copy of that to your computer and keep one copy of it somewhere outside the /public_html folder ( so others can’t steal it).

Database Backup –> Back to cPanel home screen. Hit Backups. On left side there should be a section labeled “Databases” and have download links of your databases. Click on the right now and save it somewhere safe on your computer.

That should do it…

And, how easy is it to restore if I need to?

Leave the existing database on the server if you can. Add a fresh set of WP files and a new database for the new setup. If things go wrong you can just get rid of all those new files, unzip the backup zip file back to /public_html/wp/ you and bam, restored ??

Find your way to /public_html. WP folder should be there.

I just realized, my WP folder is in a subfolder within public_html. WP is installed in the subdirectory for one of the sites – the first one I created. So it’s currently /public_html/domain.com/wp/
Also, other websites on this hosting account have /wp installed in the respective site directories (v. 3.5.2). Although I won’t be touching them, I am hoping they won’t be affected by me installing 3.6.1 at the web root (actually /public_html root).

Leave the existing database on the server if you can. Add a fresh set of WP files and a new database for the new setup.

When you say “add a fresh set of files” – do I upload my WP files from [my backup/copy of the original install] to the new location? If I install new from the cpanel, I can’t choose to install 3.6.1, I will get the current version (3.8). Pretty sure I don’t want to mess with that at this stage… also, if I’m uploading my [backup/copy] 3.6.1, I’ll be able to also upload my copy of the Quark template files. Of course some changes I made locally and uploaded via FTP, other times I used the WP template interface – will all of this be saved with the backups you described?

Thank you so much for helping me and having patience while I cover all the bases! Happy New Year!

So it’s currently /public_html/domain.com/wp/

You’re correct ?? I didn’t take in to account that you may have it installed on an add-on domain. The few times I used cPanel a few years back I only installed multisite on the primary domain so /public_html/ instead of /public_html/domain.com. Either way it’s still the root path of the domain so it should work…

Also, other websites on this hosting account have /wp installed in the respective site directories (v. 3.5.2). Although I won’t be touching them, I am hoping they won’t be affected by me installing 3.6.1 at the web root (actually /public_html root).

If the other websites have WordPress at some place like /public_html/otherdomain.com/wp/ then just leave those like they are. Won’t impact you’re end goal.

But this Multisite was originally at /public_html/domain.com/wp/ you’ll want to put it at /public_html/domain.com and not /public_html unless you changed the primary domain on your cPanel account.

When you say “add a fresh set of files” – do I upload my WP files from [my backup/copy of the original install] to the new location?

Yes, I misspoke – you definitely want to put your backup files there ??

Thank you! I want to clarify one more thing about the location and main domain.

But this Multisite was originally at /public_html/domain.com/wp/ you’ll want to put it at /public_html/domain.com and not /public_html unless you changed the primary domain on your cPanel account.

My potential glitch: I installed the multisite to /public_html/domain.com/wp. One of the sites that uses that multisite install … is actually the main domain for the hosting account, and is thus located at /public_html/

I see my error there … that I took the root website and dragged it down 2 or 3 levels to access the multisite install of WP. Given THAT, do you think it will work if I load my backup files to the main domain root /public_html/ vs. /public_html/domain.com ? I would then be switching the WP install to the root of the primary domain on the cpanel account, so unsure if that site will still work without a huge move/effort. arg, how did I tangle this web so? here’s the primary domain: partisound.com but you’ll see I have it redirected to https://djxstation.com/wp/partisound/, which is really backwards and gnarly.
I hope this is still my solution, what do you think??
Thank you again for all of your time!

I installed the multisite to /public_html/domain.com/wp. One of the sites that uses that multisite install … is actually the main domain for the hosting account, and is thus located at /public_html/

Yeah there’s a glitch there. If you want to use the primary cPanel domain on the multisite then the installation needs to be directly in /public_html/. This is because you can’t change the web document root of the main domain like you can with add-on domains.

Given THAT, do you think it will work if I load my backup files to the main domain root /public_html/ vs. /public_html/domain.com ?

Yup, you’ll need to do that if you want to map the primary cPanel domain with the multisite installation. For the reason above ^^. Be sure to change the web document root for “domain.com” to /public_html/.

Then start with the fun part! https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Moving_WordPress#Moving_WordPress_Multisite

Cool! I’m uploading the WP files to the root now, and using the half-elf link you provided above. It’s easier to understand than the codex.

I had created a new database and user, but it looks like I move forward with the current database in place. I opened phpMyAdmin, realized I have no idea what I need to change, but with backups in hand, I’m going forward.
Files I’m uploading include those for the primary domain (currently moved down 2 levels to access the WP install. These files are listed as wp-content/uploads/sites/3/…

Do I need to move files from that directory to the /public_html/ directory because that’s the root?

Do I need to move files from that directory to the /public_html/ directory because that’s the root?

Nope. So they were initially at /public_html/domain.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/site/X…./ and they will now be /public_html/wp-content/uploads/site/X…/