Sharepoint 2007 - use same master page in all sites

Question

Hello All, Is it possible to use a master page on a root SP web application for all its children sites? In other words, for a site called http://myspsite I have a customized master page called "mycustom.master". I would then like to create a site within this web application cammed "newSubsite" so it points to http://myspsite/newSubsite. Would it be possible to have this new site use the same master page as its root ("mycustom.master") ?

What i am affraid is that this isn't possible and i will need to copy the "mycustom.master" to each child site if i want to use the same one.

Thank you all in advanced.

Answer 1

What you're talking about is the standard way of deploying master pages within a site collection.

If you're working with a publishing site, the master page gallery only exists in the root web site in the site collection, sub-sites will reference master pages from this gallery in the UI components for setting/changing master pages, and can optionally default the same master page as the parent site, or a different master page from the master pages gallery.

If you're not in a publishing site, you're likely deploying your master page into the _layouts directory somewhere, in which case the master page is available to every site in your farm. You'll need to programmatically set the master page URL (SPWeb.MasterUrl) via a mechanism of your choosing for each child site individually.