WordPress MU

Hello everyone, I'm trying to install Wordpress mu on byethost.org and I know this has been addressed many many many times by others, but there seems to be no solution...
First of all, it was a clean install. wordpress (mu 2.8.6) in all cases created its own wp-config.php and .htaccess files and every time I tried a different solution I deleted and then created a new database, deleted all files via ftp and re-uploaded a wpmu ready for installing again. must have done this more than 30 times...
I tried every solution I found in other topics such as editing the wp-congig.php file (yes, the one you're not supposed to mess with), editing the .htaccess file and practically every solution that came up on google and the wordpress forums.

When I try to install wordpress mu with subfolders selected during installation, I can't login to my installation because an endless loop occurs (wp-login.php redirects to /wp-admin which in turn redirects to wp-login.php and so on).

When I try to install wordpress mu with subdomains selected during installation, I can login to my dashboard, BUT sub-domains don't work that easily in free hosts... and that's because subdomain.domain.com redirects to a folder of your choosing on domain.com/folder.

I've tried it with freewebhostingarea.com, zymic.com, x10hosting.com and many others but the problem remains the same.

What I would like to know is this: Is there any way to make this work?
I will only have 7 subdomains, not hundreds of them, so maybe there is a way to make this work by doing a subdomain installation and redirecting my subdomains to a folder in the wordpress installation?? But which one?
I really am confused and I can't figure this out....

I haven't slept in 2 days trying to figure this out and my knowledge is really very limited, so I'm asking for your help....

anyone?????

I've setup my site...
you can find it on http://healthen.org

I still haven't figured out how to do the subdomains work though...
so I've placed a big "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" on the center of the page.

take a look and tell me what you think of it...

Oh! and by the way... PLEASE HELP!!!! I NEED TO GET THE SUBDOMAINS RUNNING...
or if anyone has any ideas on how to do what I need another way please share... It doesn't have to be subdomains necessarily... can you think of any way I can make this site to work correctly?

The readme that comes with MU explains what needs to be set up on the webserver for wildcard subdomains to work. Provide that information to your host and ask them to set up wildcard subdomains for you.

After contacting my webserver they told me that wildcards are not an option, so I'm back to looking for other ways to do this...
I have access to CNAME and I can add what I want there (no wildcards though, or else I'll probably get banned). AND, I can create subdomain.domain.com through my control panel (vistapanel), but in that case it is creating a different forder which I can access through FTP again. Perhaps there is a way to upload some files there, change a few things via MyPHP and make it work?

Again.. excuse my ignorance if I'm asking any stupid questions.. and forgive any mistakes I make in the use of English language.

Thanks!

Well, I did something that (sort of) worked!
Through my host's panel, I created new sub-domains corresponding to the names of the blogs my site is going to have. No CNAME or anything like that... It just created new folders to which I had access via ftp. I then copied ALL my files from the domain directory to the sub-domain directory (the whole htdocs folder) and then I went to my domain's dashboard and created the blogs via wpmu.
Now the sub-domains work ok. The wp-config.php file links every sub-domain blog to the same database as the main domain, so I thought it would work... and it does!!!

BUT since this is not a standard procedure of course it had a BAD SIDE-EFFECT:
the links to the posts don't work!

I'm NOT using any domain mapping plugins.

To understand what I'm talking about, just take a look at my site... http://healthen.org

Could someone PLEASE let me know what I did wrong and what to do to make the posts work?

Thanks and merry Christmas!!!!

well... it seems that the problem was that when I copied the "htdocs" folder, the .htaccess file was not copied with the rest of the files and that's why links were not working. I copied this file in each subdomain and now it works like a charm!! :D

You shouldn't have to copy all the files - its going to be a nightmare to maintain.

If your hosting company don't support proper wildcard subdomains then move to a host who does. OR run it in subdirectory mode which doesn't need any changes to your DNS records or the domain side of Apache.

I'd like to run it in subdirectory mode, BUT when I try to install wordpress mu with subfolders selected during installation, I can't login to my installation because an endless loop occurs (wp-login.php redirects to /wp-admin which in turn redirects to wp-login.php and so on). Installing it in subdomain mode was the only way to be able to login... and so I ended up doing monkey tricks.. :(

I have the exact same looping problem as mentioned above. I am surprised not more people are reporting this.

Is there bug ticket raised this regarding?

I found teh solution. Its a caching issue. i used a different type of browser and its fine:

http://mu.wordpress.org/forums/topic/15572?replies=4

I've used mozilla, safari, chrome, IE, switched computers, changed city, tried EVERYTHING, and at least for me it's not a caching problem... :(

aristath - you;re either going to have to move hosts to get the wildcard subdomains, OR you'll have to figure out why you're getting the redirect loop on a subfolder install. not a bug, it's something on the server setup there. Did you put www in the blog address ? Don't do that. :)

no http://www... I'm always too bored to type it anyway.
I'll try to figure out a way to fix the subfolder installation. Thanks andrea... I've been doing a lot of reading on various forum topics to know your word is law. And if Andrea says it's not a bug, then it's simply not a bug. :)

:D In this case, I've seen it and tried it and come across a few hosts who do screwy things if MU is installed.

(bugs have to be proven to be reproducible ;P )