I tried the following HTACCESS and it fixed all these problems with broken or missing images:

#Wordpress Multi site
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
 
# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1 [L]
 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
#END WordPress Multi Site

If you are using The Donncha Domain mapping plugin to allow users to use domain names, make sure to update to the latest version that is compatible with WordPress 3.0.x. Otherwise you could see this message when a blog user tries to login:

“You don’t have permission to view this site. Please contact the system administrator.”

To update to the latest version of Donncha’s domain mapping plugin:

WordPress 3.0 Domain Mapping 0.5.2

If you notice any other issues after updating to WordPress Multisite, let me know and I will see if there is any fix.

Start activating the multi-site features of WordPress 3.0 by adding this line of code to your wp-config.php file:

/** Enable or disable Worpress Multi-site features **/
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);

Refresh your Dashboard and got to ”Tools -> Network”. You will see a screen that looks similar to the one in the picture below:

If you want to install your additional blogs on virtual sub-domains instead of sub-directories you will need to create a wildcard DNS record on your server to enable the sub-domain (blog1.yourdomain.com, blog2.yourdomain.com, blog3.yourdomain.com) functionality of WordPress 3.0.

Your server must support wildcard DNS records for you to do this. As an example I will explain how to configure it with Hostgator. It’s very easy to do with the Hostgator Baby Plan allows them. When you are in your Hostgator Control Panel, follow these instructions to create a wildcard DNS record for a domain.

Select “sub-domains” under”Domains” in CPanel
Enter an asterisk “*” in the sub-domain’s name field
Select the TLD the wildcard DNS is to be set up on
Enter the server location address for the wildcard folder, e.g. /public_html/bigbuz
Click “Create”
Back to your WordPress admin panel, you need to install the now activated WordPress 3.0 Network settings, viz

Find the Network settings page in your WordPress admin panel (Tools>Network)
Choose whether you want to use sub-domains or sub-folders for the additional blogs
Type a name for your network of sites
Set your admin email address
Click “Install”

After a minute or two you will be presented with a configuration screen. Back up your .htaccess and wp-config.php files before you proceed to follow the instructions provided on that configuration screen.

As a precautionary measure to prevent visitors of non-existent sites from being greeted by 404 error messages, redirect them to a URL of your choice by adding the below code to the bottom your wp-config.php file:

 /* Send visitors to non-existent blogs here */
define( 'NOBLOGREDIRECT', 'http://yourdomain.com/' );

Change http://yourdomain.com to the URL of your choice

Log out then log back in.
You will now need to go through your settings to enable or disable the new options provided by WordPress Multi Site.

Upgrading from WPMU to WordPress Multisite 3.0

If you are upgrading from WPMU to WordPress Multisite 3.0, you can do it automatically from the dashboard, but some manual configuration is also needed. After you upgrade and you login again into the dashboard, this message will be displayed:

Warning! WordPress encrypts user cookies, but you must add the following lines to wp-config.php for it to be more secure.

Follow the steps listed there and then you could see something like this:

“Thank you for Updating! Please visit the Update Network page to update all your sites.”

Follow the link and update all the blogs. (If you have any). Update Network.

Also you could see the following message:

“The wp-content/blogs.php file is deprecated. Please remove it and update your server rewrite rules to use wp-includes/ms-files.php instead.”

So, just remove the blogs.php file from the server and edit your .htaccess file. The .htaccess file can be found in the root folder, where the wp-config.php file is.

Open with notepad and change:

RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]

to

RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]

Done! Your new Multiuser 3.0 installation is ready to use.

Enjoy!

New features in this WordPress release include a new default theme called “Twenty Ten”. Let me add that it really looks like “Patagonia” Theme, so I guess less people are going to use my theme, time to “adapt and change” I guess. But in the other hand I can feel proud to work as inspiration to whoever designed Twenty Ten.

Theme developers have new APIs that allow them to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies. Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation. Also, I really don’t understand why would they merge WpMu into WordPress, since most people are going to use normal WordPress anyways.

As you may know, Akismet is another great plugin and I use it on WpThemesPlanet. It blocks most of the spam comments. However, it is always interesting to have an alternative in hand. I have tried TypePad on another blog for the last 3 months and it works wonders. It blocked 100% of the spam.

The service is free to anyone who wants to use it for both personal and business sites, regardless of how many comments you receive. As with Akismet, you also need an API key for it to work. You can get a free API key in the link below. The great news about TypePad AntiSpam Plugin is that it can be used for WordPress MU too. This is the difference with Akismet, which needs a special license for WPMU. That’s why most WordPress WPMU Webmasters are using TypePad Antispam plugin lately.

Download the plugin here.

Register for a free TypePad API Key here.

The TypePad AntiSpam plugin for WordPress is derived from WP-Akismet by Matt Mullenweg. All subsequent modifications are copyright 2008, Six Apart Ltd.

Enjoy!

I won’t name them as it’s Unprofessional to do. You can contact me if you need more info or if you need me to review your premium themes. Anyway, many webmasters buy those themes, because the themes are actually sold using excellent marketing tactics that make people buy them. However take care before wasting money on wordpress themes that are not going to fit your basic needs or will fail to integrate with the latest WordPress Versions. And when you ask for support, they don’t give you any at all.  Now I am very happy to say that both Themes I designed are fully compatible with WordPress MU and with the latest versions of WordPress. I’m currently working on new themes. I will release a very good free theme soon. Something that cannot be found on the market actually. Something fresh and original. So stay tuned.

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