title: Magento multi website/store setup - please help!
body: <p>I followed an article from Magento Support on how to set up a Magento installation with multiple websites, stores, and store views, but it screwed my installation and I couldn't access anything. Thanks to a couple of replies to my post, I was able to get back to some semblance of a working system.
  I would really appreciate if someone could spot what stupid thing I must have done in my setup.</p>
  
  <p>My requirements for this test setup are:<br>
  - One single admin area.<br>
  - Two websites.<br>
  - First website with 1 store (with 3 store views).<br>
  - Second website with 2 stores (each with one store view).<br>
  - I'd prefer to access the frontend using URLs like: <a href="http://www.firstwebsite.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.firstwebsite.com</a> rather than <a href="http://www.firstwebsite.com/magento/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.firstwebsite.com/magento/index.php</a>  </p>
  
  <p>Machine is running Windows XP.</p>
  
  <p>In the stores configuration I have this setup:  </p>
  
  <pre><code>Websites:  
    Name=Main Website  
    code=base  
  
    Name=Paul Website  
    code=pws1  
  Stores:  
    Name=Main Store  
    Website=Main Website  
  
    Name=Electronics  
    Website=Paul Website  
  
    Name=Media  
    Website=Paul Website  
  
  Store Views:  
    Name=English  
    Store=Electronics  
    code=en1  
  
    Name=English  
    Store=Media  
    code=en2  
  
    Name=English  
    Store=Main Store  
    code=default  
  
    Name=French  
    Store=Main Store  
    code=french  
  
    Name=German  
    Store=Main Store  
    code=german
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>System/Configuration/General/Web (accessed by URL <a href="http://test.pdapache.com/magento/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://test.pdapache.com/magento/index.php</a>):</p>
  
  <pre><code>Scope=Default Config  
    Add Store Code to Urls = No    
    Auto-redirect to Base URL = No    
    Secure and Unsecure URLs just set to {{base_url}} at this scope  
  
  Scope=Main Website  
    Unsecure Base URL=http://test.pdapache.com/magento/  
    Secure Base URL=https://test.pdapache.com/magento/  
    All other secure/unsecure not using default. Also Default Web URL=cms (use Default = No). CMS Home Page=Home Page (use default = no)  
  
  Scope=Paul Website  
    Unsecure Base URL=http://paulsplace.com/magento/  
    Secure Base URL=https://paulsplace.com/magento/  
    All other secure/unsecure not using default. Also Default Web URL=cms (use Default = No). CMS Home Page=Home Page (use default = no)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>hosts file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>127.0.0.1   test.pdapache.com
  127.0.0.1   www.paulsplace.com
  127.0.0.1   paulsplace.com
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>httpd.conf:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>httpd-vhosts.conf file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;VirtualHost *:80&gt;
      ServerAdmin me@myemail.com
      DocumentRoot "C:/Applications/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"
      ServerName paulsplace.com
      ErrorLog "logs/paulsplace.com-error.log"
      CustomLog "logs/paulsplace.com-access.log" common
      SetEnv MAGE_RUN_TYPE website
      SetEnv MAGE_RUN_CODE pws1
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;
  
  &lt;VirtualHost *:80&gt;
      ServerAdmin me@myemail.com
      DocumentRoot "C:/Applications/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"
      ServerName pdapache.com
      ErrorLog "logs/pdapache.com-error.log"
      CustomLog "logs/pdapache.com-access.log" common
      SetEnv MAGE_RUN_TYPE website
      SetEnv MAGE_RUN_CODE base
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I go to either of these addresses:<br>
  <a href="http://test.pdapache.com/magento/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://test.pdapache.com/magento/index.php</a><br>
  <a href="http://www.paulsplace.com/magento/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulsplace.com/magento/index.php</a><br>
  I get a Magento logo-ed page that just says "There was no Home CMS page configured or found"</p>
  
  <p>The URLs I'd rather be using, i.e.<br>
  <a href="http://test.pdapache.com" rel="nofollow">http://test.pdapache.com</a><br>
  <a href="http://www.paulsplace.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulsplace.com</a><br>
  just displays the Apache index.html "It works!" page.</p>
  
  <p>Help! I guess I've made some stupid mistake somewhere, maybe more than one, but I don't know where.</p>