[MOSS/WSSv3] ForeFront update issues

I just installed ForeFront for SharePoint on a customer environment. Three of the engines we refusing to update their engines. A search on the Internet resulted in the following article:

ForeFront: Action required by Dec. 1, 2009: Keep protections current

[MOSS/WSSv3] Site Settings not visible, even when I am a site collection admin

[ISSUE]
Last week, I had to perform some restore activities for a site collection that became corrupt. When I was done, users reported that permissions were gone. After logging on I found out that I wasn't able to open the Site Settings. The Site Actions > Site Settings menu option was gone?!?!?!?

[SOLUTION]
After some troubleshooting I found out that during earlier steps, the site collection accidentally was set to Read-Only lock. That is why I wasn't shown any admin screens. When the lock was lifted, all started working again!

[MOSS] Unknown Error when opening AreaNavigationSettings.aspx

[ISSUE]
Last week one of my colleagues contacted me about an issue he encountered. When trying to open the navigation settings page (/_layouts/AreaNavigationSettings.aspx), he encountered an "Unknown Error" (don't you just love those nice and clear errors). When opening the default page, the Quick Launch navigation on that page was also displaying errors:




[TROUBLESHOOTING]
When using the CustomErrors=Off and StackTrace=True options in the web.config, we were able to retrieve a "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" message. In the ULS logs, we found the following errors:

• Unable to retrieve the CachedObject that this ProxySiteMapNode references: /sites/test/sites/183/Pages/testpage.aspx
• PortalSiteMapProvider was unable to fetch children for node at URL: , message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

[SOLUTION]
The quick launch navigation was changed manually and navigation items were added. Looking a little further, I found that testpage.aspx didn't exist anymore in the Pages library. Probably a user had deleted this page, causing this issue. When I recreated the testpage.aspx, the Quick Launch navigation started working again and the Navigation Settings page didn't show the error anymore.

Launch date SharePoint 2010 known!

Last Friday Microsoft announced the launch date of SharePoint 2010. On May 12th Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will be officialy released to the public. They will reach RTM somewhere in April.

[MOSS/WSSv3] Error while deploying a solution

[ISSUE]
Last week I encountered an issue while deploying a solution. I received the following error "This operation uses the SharePoint Administration service (spadmin), which could not be contacted. If the service is stopped or disabled, start it and try the operation again."

[SITUATION]
The environment I was working on consisted out of three servers, one web front end, one application and one database server. The application server is running the Central Administration role. The above error was thrown on the web front end server.

[CAUSE]
This issue was caused by a bug in the .NET Framework v2.0. After deploying this update, the issue was solved and the deployment ran fine.

SharePoint 2010 RC installation bug

The Release Candidate of SharePoint 2010 has an issue with the installation. When installing on a domain controller, you will end up with SharePoint 2010 installed in a Stand-Alone setup. This setup is using SQL Express 2008, which is not supported on a domain controller. Now I hear you say "why are you installing on a DC" and you are right, you don't want SharePoint installed on a DC.......in a production situation. In my case I am testing on a single VM, with all the roles on one server, including the DC role.

Quote MS: "In the Release Candidate build, we recommend you do not to install on a Domain Controller. While the Setup User Interface does the correct thing by suppressing the Standalone option, after the installation is done and the RC is fully installed, it is actually a Standalone install and not a farm install. Although you are not technically blocked, the install will not work since SQL Express 2008 is not supported on a Domain Controller."

Because SQL Express 2008 is not supported on a DC, if the installation detects you are installing on a DC, the selection page where you can choose between a Stand-Alone and Complete installation is removed. Unfortunately the Stand-Alone option is the default selected option, causing you to end up with a Stand-Alone installation anyways and no way to get around this via the GUI :-)

Solution:
The best way to install SharePoint 2010 RC on a domain controller is by using an scripted installation.

1. Extract the installation file by executing <filename> /extract:<folder name>
2. Open a Windows Explorer and create a file called config.xml.
3. Open the config.xml file and paste in the part below
4. Change the <PID KEY> into your own product key and the install folder
5. Save the file
6. Start a command prompt and browse to the folder
7. Run "setup /config config.xml"
8. SharePoint 2010 RC is now being installed as a Complete installation!

Have fun SharePointing!


Config.xml:

<Configuration>
<Package Id="sts">
<Setting Id="LAUNCHEDFROMSETUPSTS" Value="Yes"/>
</Package>

<Package Id="spswfe">
<Setting Id="SETUPCALLED" Value="1"/>
<Setting Id="OFFICESERVERPREMIUM" Value="1" />
</Package>

<Logging Type="verbose" Path="%temp%" Template="SharePoint Server Setup(*).log"/>
<PIDKEY Value="<PID KEY>" />
<Setting Id="SERVERROLE" Value="APPLICATION"/>
<Setting Id="USINGUIINSTALLMODE" Value="0"/>
<Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="Never" />
<Setting Id="SETUPTYPE" Value="CLEAN_INSTALL"/>
<INSTALLLOCATION Value="D:\Program Files\Microsoft SharePoint" />
<Display Level="Basic" CompletionNotice="Yes" AcceptEULA="Yes" />
</Configuration>

My SharePoint 2010 article published in TechNet Magazine

Over the past weeks I have been working on a SharePoint 2010 article, which was published in this years first edition of the Dutch TechNet Magazine. If you interested in this article, below a scanned copy of this article:

SharePoint 2010, de stap naar volwassenheid (in Dutch)