man thinking

SharePoint Emergency Checklist

It's been a long, long day. Things are going wrong and, what's more, your suit is looking seriously crumpled.

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People are shouting at you; the sky is falling in and the world is about to end; that's when it is difficult to think through the obvious likely problems. Wouldn't it be great if there was a checklist of the most common issues we face when setting up SharePoint?

Well, there isn't. But here's a quick list of things you might like to try. It won't cover everything, but it might get you out of a hole. These are the things that bitter experience has taught me can be easily overlooked, and can cost you a lot of time. So a quick scan down this list might save you having to get out those diagnostic tools.

  • Verify that firewalls are configured correctly
  • If dependent on a service, is the service running?
  • If dependent on a site collection feature, is it enabled?
  • If dependent on a site feature, is it enabled?
  • Are all applicable service applications enabled?
  • Is the Secure Store Service provisioned and running?
  • Is the Security Token Service provisioned and running?
  • Is the State Service provisioned and running?
  • Is the Claims to Windows Token Service (C2WTS) running?
  • If using client tools, is the site in a trusted zone in the browser?
  • Did you set up any required Unattended Service Accounts?
  • Are any service applications associated with a proxy group?
  • Does the app. pool service account have access to the content databases?
  • Have you checked the Windows application event log?
  • Have you enabled trace logging and checked the ULS?
  • Have you confused domain\\Administrator with localmachine\\Administrator?
  • Have you tried flushing out client-side caches (Crtl-F5)
  • Have you tried flushing out server-side caches (iisreset /noforce)? 

 If you are getting an error message, check my list of the most common ones.