I've just installed a new wordpress. I already have another site using it as well. When I look at the floating admin bar it looks like it should allow me to login to all of my sites though it, but it doesn't. Is there something I'm doing wrong that is making the admin bar not allow me to use it to switch to different admin panels of my different sites?
It doesn't quite work that way. Yes you can run multiple blogs from one Dashboard, but you have install multi site features first and create the new sites within that. It doesn't pick up your other blogs that are already running and automatically import them into your new installation. http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network
WordPress.com? Free hosted blog on a subdomain like : yourblog.wordpress.com? Or, Self hosted WordPress, from WordPress.org?
I don't believe it. lol. Here's why. In the spot where it say "my Blog" there is a drop down that says the name of your blog to choose. Why would their be a drop down if no matter what there is always only one choice?
Look, unless you create or import your other blogs into that installation, there is NO WAY that you will be able to manage them all from the same dashboard. That "Global Dashboard" is likely your Wordpress.com dashboard. A completely different thing. It's where your Wordpress.com sites are ( if you have any), your WordPress.com profile and where your WordPress.com API key is. If you have multiple, self hosted sites running under one installation, you will have a drop down that says "My Sites" and a list of the sites in your network, and one that says"Network Admin" to administer the Network.
The screenshot that you've displayed looks like it's from a WordPress.com dashboard. If you have multiple blogs there, then it should list them as long as you created them under the same account. That has nothing to do with self hosting the downloaded version of WordPress from WordPress.org. Same company. Different things.