If you are comfortable with FTP, Multisite file structures and htacess - short and advanced instructions are provided in the install.txt file downloaded with this plugin.

Make sure you follow the instructions in the txt file for how to install... this one requires you to make a small edit to htaccess, and add a file into wp-content as well as wp-content/mu-plugins/ so it's important to read the notes.

For those new to WordPress Multisite you might like to check out Installing mu-plugins section in our comprehensive WordPress Multisite Manual and then follow the instructions below.

Here are the detailed step-by-step instructions:

1. Place the following files in the specified directories

2. Download your .htacess file onto your hard drive

3. Open up your .htacess file using EditPlus and add the following to your .htaccess under the line that handles uploaded files:

RewriteRule ^(.*/)?avatar/(.*) wp-content/avatar.php?file=$2 [L]

4. Save your .htaccess file. Upload your amended .htaccess file to your public_html folder and overwrite your existing file

TIP:

  • Check to confirm that the .htaccess file has been overwritten by making sure the last modified date is the same as the file you’ve uploaded.
  • Some FTP clients have a hard time overwriting the .htaccess file and/or some servers are configured to not all the FTP client to overwrite the .htaccess file.

If this happens you need to delete the file from the server and then upload the modified file.

5. Create an avatar directory in wp-content by clicking on right clicking and selecting Create directory.

6. Right click on avatars directory and select file permissions

7. Set the file permission to 777 and click OK.

8. Create user directories inside the avatar directory

9. Right click on user directory, select file permissions, set the file permission to 777 and click OK

10. Repeat steps to create a blog directory inside the avatar directory. Then right click on blog directory, select file permissions, set the file permission to 777 and click OK

11. Log into your Multisite network and test plugin is working by uploading an avatar to your profile.

 

bbPress Plugin

If you have an integrated bbPress install, you can install this optional plugin to allow custom avatars in your bbPress template. This plugin will only work if your bbPress install is integrated to use the WordPress user table.

  1. Upload the avatar-bbpress.php file to the /my-plugins/ folder (create it if not existing) of your bbPress installed folder
  2. Activate the plugin in the admin area of bbPress

Troubleshooting

Check the following if you are unable to upload an avatar to your profile:

  1. Have all the .php files have been uploaded to the correct directories?
  2. Did you add the following text to the correct location in the .htaccess file?
    3. RewriteRule ^(.*/)?avatar/(.*) wp-content/avatar.php?file=$2 [L]
  3. Did the .htaccess file get overwritten?
  4. Were the user and blog directories created properly? Are they inside the avatars directory in wp-content?
  5. Have the file permission for the avatar, user and blog directories been changed to 777?