New to the community? Start here

how do i control access to certian plugins?

im a super admin and i understand i should have complete control over my network. however ive been having an issue with restricting plugins.

i set up a test site to see what would happen when i installed a plugin(not network activated, just installed).

when i install a plugin, weather or not i network activate it, it shows up in the test site. when i try the pro sites premium plugin restrictions and set the levels nothing changes.

now remember, i never network activated these plugins…just installed them. even after setting levels in pro sites and using WPs Advanced plugin manager and multipress user management….the plugins are STILL showing up.

am i missing something? i thought not activating plugins network wide ment they stayed on the super admin dashboard.

currently the only way to remove the plugins from the test site(which havent even been network activated may i remind you) is by completely deleting them. which means i( the super admin) also cant use them.

when i network activate the plugins…they disappear completely from the main sites plugin dashboard and the test subsites dashboard.

when i network deactivate them again…they magically show up…in both dashboards.

i want to restrict plugins because there are certain plugins i dont want users to even see let alone have access to them. like for ads and branding. mainly the plugins i use to run the network there on.

i would please like some instruction on how to restrict plugins please. im using prosites. do i as the super admin have to have an “account” with myself?

please keep this thread ongoing. if your not going to respond more than once please dont respond. im looking for serious support for this issue.

i know there is something im either missing or done wrong and if anyone else has had this issue please tell me how you fixed it.

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:12:24
  • aecnu
    • WP Unicorn

    Greetings airot87,

    Thank you for bringing this item to our attention and indeed though Pro Sites cannot protect every plugin it certainly does the majority of them.

    You mentioned a “test” site – is that the main site of the network by any chance?

    Are you running caching on the WordPress installation in question by any chance?

    Are you using two completely different browsers for developing and testing? i.e. Firefox for developing and Chrome for testing and dumping the caching and cookies of the test browser before each test?

    Please advise.

    Cheers, Joe

  • airot87
    • Design Lord, Child of Thor

    the “test” site is not the main site. the “test” is a subdomain created from the main site.

    everything i do basically affects both the main and subdomain the same and this is not what i want.

    i want certain things for the main site(obviously) and certain things for my subdomains (free and paid). i just cant seem to separate the 2

  • joan_donogh
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    I use a plugin called Multisite Plugin Manager – available from the WordPress repository. It was developed by Aaron (who also does ProSites) and works with ProSites to control access to plugins. You can set access to “none” for plugins that should only be available for the main site.

  • airot87
    • Design Lord, Child of Thor

    thanks @joan_donogh but i was using Advanced multisite plugin manager and it wasnt working…the plugins would still be seen even if they were not network activated.

    are you using pro sites? im having trouble restricting plugin access with that as well

  • airot87
    • Design Lord, Child of Thor

    if we put them in our MU-PLUGIN folder would that make them only avaiable to us and so our users couldnt see them?

    also how is PRO SITES working out for you? what made you choose that over the WHMCS plugins? ive been going back and forth about which to use…mainly because im not sure how the whole domain mapping works.

  • joan_donogh
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    I don’t think putting the plugins in the MU folder would work. Pro sites works well for me. I use it in conjunction with New Blog Templates to offer a complete website with the pages already created. I think WHMCS is a more robust hosting solution, so it depends on what your requirements are.