Fix for "MS16-004 list view issue" SharePoint 2013

A solution for the list view issue caused by MS16-004 is found by Stefan Goßner and details can be found on his blog.

If you already installed MS16-004 on your SharePoint 2013 Farms you have 2 options to fix it:

• Patch KB3114508 
• January 2016 CU for SharePoint 2013 Server, but the CU was released to soon and I do not recommend installing it on your SharePoint Farms, because you don"t know what else could be broken.

So as a recommendation, skip MS16-004 patch installation or if you already installed it apply the patch KB3114508

Share this post, so more people are aware about this "workaround".

Update: There is a bug in SharePoint 2013 CU January 2016 that cause reports of Excel Services causing app pools to crash (Todd Klindt's blog).

Restore-SPSite error "0x80070003"

With this post I would like to share with you another strange issue with SharePoint 2013 and restoring site collection. The scenario in my case was:

• I have a site collection with missing files
• Last available SQL backup  - 3 months ago

So at the beginning restoring the missing files looks an easy task. I restored the content DB in SQL with different name and made a backup of the site collection (Central Admin -> Backup and Restore -> Recover data from an unattached content database). My goal was to restore the site collection under different URL, but when I tried to restore it the following error poped up:



PS H:\> Restore-SPSite http://test.contoso.com/sites/scr -Path D:\Backups\sitecollection1.bak

Confirm Are you sure you want to perform this action? Performing operation "Restore-SPSite" on Target "http://test.contoso.com/sites/scr". [Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"):

**Restore-SPSite : <nativehr>0x80070003</nativehr><nativestack></nativestack> At line:1 char:1 + Restore-SPSite http://test.contoso.com/sites/scr -Pat ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...dletRestoreSite: SPCmdletRestoreSite) [Restore-SPSite], DirectoryNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletRestoreS ite**

This error message means that the backup of the site collection has older schema version then the current SharePoint. Actually the all content DB needs to be updated to the current SharePoint version in order to be able to do something with the backup otwerwise the backup is useless. As a next step you need to mount the content DB to existing or new web application and upgrade the database. I strongly recomend you to use powershell for these two steps:

1. Mount the content DB with Mount-SPContentDatabase and AssignNewDatabaseId parameter, otherwise the cmdlet will trown error because there is already a DB with the same ID.
2. Upgrade the DB with Upgrade-SPContentDatabase -Identity <DB name>

I strongly recommend you to check the upgrade logs, placed in the ULS folder. You have to discover a lot of the errors like this:

 

12/14/2015 18:36:20.12 powershell (0x20550) 0x26A38 SharePoint Foundation Upgrade SPContentDatabaseSequence ajxk1 ERROR Database [RM_SP_Content_02] contains a site (Id = [50340533-6c00-4187-8d01-f9eabdc514ed], Url = [/sites/scr]) whose id is already associated with a different database (Id = [95823bf0-4fe2-462e-bdf9-bb37b35b4c26], name = [SP_Content_02]) in the site map. Consider deleting one of these sites which have conflicting ids. d642bc3b-5bf4-4783-82da-47030365bb9b

 

I would say that all these errors are OK, because most of the sites still exist in SharePoint. But even the upgrade was successful you won't be able to browse or backup the site collections inside the restored content DB. As a next step unmount the content DB from SharePoint (Dismount-SPContentDatabase or use Central Admin) and backup your site collection via Unattached Content Database Data Recovery in Central Admin. After you backup your site collection you will be able to restore it with Restore-SPSite. 

 

Please share if you think this post is useful.

SharePoint Saturday Munich 2015

Hello everyone,

I'm very happy to share with you that I was able to attend the 1st SharePoint Saturday in Munich this month.

And with this post I will share what I found interesting at this event.

First we have to say a BIG THANK YOU to all sponsors and speakers:

On this event none of the speakers were paid. They cover all travel costs by themselves!!! 

Amazing, isn't it?

Below you can find a link to some of the slides from #SPSMUC2015

• Keynote by Jeremy Thake - link
• Paul Hunt slides about Building FAQ functionality in SharePoint 2013/Online
• Wictor Wilen slides 
• SharePoint Search Happy Hour - link 
• Office 365 Next Gen Portals - link
• Waldek Mastykarz presentation Building contextual experiences with the Office Graph available in github
• SharePoint Governance Myth-Busting by Adis Jugo
• I'm still waiting for the following presentations: 
• SharePoint Performance Monitoring and Troubleshooting by Donald Hessing
• What's new in SharePoint 2016 User Profile Sync by Markus Hintner

Authentication prompt issue, Office File, Read permissions

Hello again to all, I would like to share with you another strange / mystery issue with SharePoint 2013.

My customer just came to me with the question - I can't open an office file with explicit user permissions, why?

 

At the beginning I can't believe that the office file couldn't be opened when the users has explicit file permissions (permissions ONLY over the file, no web application, no site collection, no site permissions). When the user tries to open the file the login prompt pops up, asking for credentials, even if you enter valid credentials you will be unable to open the file, it will continue prompt you for credentials and at the bottom, at the status bar of the file you will see "Updating Workflow Status", but we don't have any workflows assigned to the site / site collection / library.

 

 

Inside the application log you will see EventId 8026 notifying you about this problem:

 

 

A lot of people in Tech Net Forum thought it must be related to the permissions or browser settings, but none of this was true. Even with ULS you will be unable to catch the root cause of this problem. 

 

In my case all of the site collections are using a custom template and I was thinking that the problem could be related to it. So I create a new site collection based on default Team Site template and granted to a specific user explicit modify permissions ONLY on one office file. Guess what - THE PROBLEM DOES NOT OCCURED :-)

OK, now I know for sure that the problem is with the custom template used for the site collections, but what is it?

I start comparing the site collection features, activate and deactivate features and trying to reproduce the issue - without success :-(

Until I found Limited-access user permission lockdown mode, remember this feature because this is the root cause of the aforementioned problem. Activating this feature will cause the users with explicit file permissions to be unable to open office files.

So deactivate Limited-access user permission lockdown mode site collection feature to eliminate issues with explicit user permissions over office files.

Please share this post if you think it is useful.

Happy SharePoint-ing to all :-)
 

Missing server side dependencies - SharePoint 2013

Maybe most of you are facing or faced this error message inside the SharePoint Health Analyzer Rule:

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[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [8307a780-2546-f10b-551f-0e692d0fce39] (class [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.SearchApplicationShortcutsList] from assembly [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c]) is referenced [1] times in the database [CA Content], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [Content CA], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.
[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [63104819-a32f-88b6-ab4a-7bbd4fbb40e8] (class [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.FarmSystemStatus] from assembly [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c]) is referenced [1] times in the database [Content CA], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [Content CA], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.
[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [9328cc53-be2c-1cca-f310-ddd573a106a5] (class [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.FarmSearchApplicationList] from assembly [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c]) is referenced [1] times in the database [Content CA], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [Content CA], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.
[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [4465f30a-0604-4d3c-39fd-ecdb8812f3f3] (class [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.SearchTopologyOverview] from assembly [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c]) is referenced [1] times in the database [Content CA], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [Content CA], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.
[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [a9bc1035-cf56-e003-8a4d-fff0bb3da148] (class [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.SearchApplicationSystemStatus] from assembly [Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c]) is referenced [1] times in the database [Content CA], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [Content CA], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.

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If you are searching the internet for this error you may find a lot of solutions like:

• This technet article 
• Or inside "Search Administration" page under "Shortcuts" open the links "Add new link" and "Manage links" without changing or adding something

And then rerun the Health Analyzer rule.

Sounds really good because this solution does not require special knowledge or changes in SharePoint Farm ... and the TRUTH is that we may need to repeat the aforementioned steps several times until the message disappear ...  YES it is really working in this way.

Enjoy and happy SharePointing...

Search Index Location - SharePoint 2013

With this post I'll try to explain the complete step-by-step guide how to check and change Search Index Location in SharePoint 2013. Unfortunately in internet I found different posts but non of them was complete

For one of our customers we have to check Search Index Location and I found this post , great I'll find very easy the location. BUT I was surprised when I got the result in Power Shell:

• $ssa = Get-SPServiceApplication –Name "Search Service Application"
• $active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
• Get-SPEnterpriseSearchComponent -SearchTopology $active | ?{$_.Name -like "*index*"}

Root directory is empty in my case, in the aforementioned post I could not find what actually this means.

Another post stated that with only 2 Power Shell commands I'll get the necessary for me information. The result after execution was:

OK looks like the location is the default search index location and I've to change it.

Found one very useful Power Shell script which I highly recommend to use in case you would like to change index location. The only thing you have to change at the bottom of the script are:

• SearchServiceName
• Server (name)
• Index Location (suggestion use non system drive)

Execution on my servers finished with success.

Then I would like to check index location again and executed again:

• $ssi = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance
• $ssi.Components

And SURPRISE the Index Location was the same ... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Data\Office Server\Applications ... I can't believe it.

Then I executed the first 3 cmdlets and  now the result is a bit different:

Actually the changes are here :-)

Conclusion

If you would like to check your Search Index Location in SharePoint 2013 you need the following power shell commands:

1.  $ssa = Get-SPServiceApplication –Name "Search Service Application"
2.  $active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
3.  Get-SPEnterpriseSearchComponent -SearchTopology $active | ?{$_.Name -like "*index*"} 

In case RootDirectory is empty that means your search index location is the default location - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Data\Office Server\Applications, if it shows something different like D:\SearchIndex this is you index location

I hope you will find this post usefull!

Please share!
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System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800703FA)

Hello all,

today I faced another very interesting SharePoint 2013 issue :-) At least interesting for me.

Application log was filled out every hour with the following message:
Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-PerformancePoint Service
Date:          24.04.2015 10:41:34
Event ID:      1176
Task Category: PerformancePoint Services
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          contoso\test
Computer:      mycomputer.local
Description:
An error occurred during maintenance cleanup.

Exception details:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800703FA): Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {BDEADF26-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F} failed due to the following error: 800703fa Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800703FA).
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest..ctor()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.CreateSPRequestAndSetIdentity(SPSite site, String name, Boolean bNotGlobalAdminCode, String strUrl, Boolean bNotAddToContext, Byte[] UserToken, SPAppPrincipalToken appPrincipalToken, String userName, Boolean bIgnoreTokenTimeout, Boolean bAsAnonymous)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPRequestManager.GetContextRequest(SPRequestAuthenticationMode authenticationMode)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.get_RequestAny()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetLocalizedString(String source, String defaultResourceFile, UInt32 language)
   at Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Scorecards.ServerGlobalResources.SPGetString(String classKey, String resourceKey, CultureInfo uiCulture)
   at Microsoft.PerformancePoint.Scorecards.Server.Utilities.TempFCOTimedCleanup.Clean(DateTime expirationDateTime)

Suggestions like "Restart Performance Point service" or "Reboot the server" are not working in my case.

Fortunately I found that a solution working for me:

I changed the Load User Profile to true for Security TokenServiceApplicationPool inside IIS.

Hope this could help you too in resolving similar issues.

Share this post if you think it is helpful!
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