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WordPress MultiSite Broke Plugins/Sync

I just realized that i have a problem not sure when it started but simply put when i install or unistall a plugin on MultiSite it simply doesn’t work on subsites. The plugins are still on subsites even if i delete them from Network or the new plugins i install don’t show up on Subsites.

And If i deactivate a plugin from Network will still be on Subsites “Network Activated”

Wed, 29 May 2019 1:38:38
  • Adam
    • Support Gorilla

    Hi Kent Gustavson

    I hope you’re well today and thank you for contacting us!

    While on a regular singe WP installs things are pretty straightforward, it’s a bit different and more “twisted” on Multisite so let’s first try to clear it up a bit :slight_smile:

    On a Multisite there’s no separate “installation” of any plugin. All the plugins ares still stored (their files) in the very same ‘/wp-content/plugins” folder and there are no multiple copies of the plugin. However, there’s a difference (and a bit of a “headache” sometimes) with activation:

    – some plugins can only be network-enabled

    – some can be either network-enabled or “per site” enabled

    – some can be enabled either on a network or “per site” but will work properly only in one of these “modes” (that’s mostly in case of a plugin that were created and tested solely on/for single WP installs and their code “ignores” Multisite)

    The first problem here is that in many cases that’s not stated in any docs so while in most cases – if not said otherwise – plugin will work on Multisite just fine, sometimes unexpected things happen. The only way to find out about it is to test it.

    There’s a difference between Network Activation and “per site” activation then: a network-enabled plugin is active for entire network so it works on each site of it. The “per-site” enabled plugin is active only on that sub-site. But it’s still the very same instance (physically) of the plugin.

    Now, taking that into account this case is actually possible, though quite rare:

    And If i deactivate a plugin from Network will still be on Subsites “Network Activated”

    I’ve seen this happening a couple of times even on my own setup: a plugin that can be network-enabled or per-site enabled was first activated only on a subsite; then later on it was network-activated and after being network-deactivated again – it still remained active on the sub-site.

    However, the other two issues that you described is something different:

    1) a plugin installed on Multisite doesn’t work on sub-site – this normally depends on the plugin; some of them will only work for entire network and only have configuration in “Network Admin” (common for entire network); some will work separately; there might be a plugin as well that’s simply not compatible with Multisite at all and it will not work indeed. That said: could you tell me what plugins are you referring to?

    2) a plugin deleted from Network Admin is still there on sub-site – that is not possible if a plugin was really deleted from Multisite; unless… it wasn’t really removed because of some unexpected or there’s some caching issue that’s causing it so actually “show up” on plugin list but not really working. Again: are you referring to any specific plugins or does it apply to any randomly selected plugin on your site?

    I would also like to take a closer look at your site and test this so could you please enable support access to it for me? To do so, please go to the “WPMU DEV -> Support -> Support Access” page in “Network Admin” and click on “Grant support access” button there, then let me know here once it’s done.

    I would like to try to temporarily deactivate/activate some plugins to test it and also try to install/remove some – just to see exactly how it behaves and try to find out what’s happening.

    Best regards,

    Adam

  • Kent Gustavson
    • New Recruit

    I just activated grant support Adam

    One more thing i just notice that it happens only on subdomains created on the network like

    test.domainname.com

    test.domainname.com

    and on the websites that are normal on the network like

    domain1.com

    domain2.com

    works everything normal. And isn’t only one plugin is about all