MOSS: Central Admin search pages give Unknown error

Problem:
When going to almost any search related page in Central Admin or SSP you get plain white screen with black text saying: "Unknown error"

Solution:
This one falls probably in the category 'many things can cause this', but in my case I had modified the application.master because of branding.

Luckily in this scenario the Central Admin site is located on a separate application server (indexing), so best solution was to revert the application.master into default OOB version only on that server. No end-users will access sites on that server, so I consider that a safe workaround.

In cases where you really need to modify the application.master, there comes other solutions, such as presented here.

MOSS: Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers throws PostSetupConfigurationTaskException

Problem:
After applying Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) and Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) and trying to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard, the wizard stops on task 8 of 9 and gives error message:

An exception of type Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PostSetupConfigurationTaskException was thrown. Additional exception information: Failed to upgrade SharePoint Products and Technologies.

How to start solving:
Looking at the log provided below the error message leads you to PSCDiagnostics file, but that file doesn't really contain any good error messages. However, it mentions that you should look at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\LOGS\Upgrade.log for further information regarding the failure.

Looking at Upgrade.log tells us what the problem is.

Error 1:
The access control list on C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\template\layouts\web.config could not be modified because the path could not be located in the file system.

Solution 1:
Trying to locate the web.config file quickly reveals the real cause of the problem: there is no such file in that folder. Reasons for that are (again) unknown at least to me, but copying that file from another SharePoint 2007 installation to the correct folder and restarting the Configuration Wizard should get you around this issue.

If the file exists, you may want to verify that the syntax of web.config is valid.

NOTE! There are several other possibilities for PostSetupConfigurationTaskException, so please post your errors and solutions here and I keep updating the article. Thanks!

MOSS: The type specified in the TypeName property of ObjectDataSource could not be found.

Problem:
When using ObjectDataSource in Web Part and you only have your Assembly in GAC, you'll might see the following error:

The type specified in the TypeName property of ObjectDataSource
'myOds' could not be found.

You init the ObjectDataSource in your Web Part e.g., like this:

ObjectDataSource ods = new ObjectDataSource("Namespace.Class", "SomeMethod");
ods.ID = "myOds";
this.Controls.Add(ods);

Solution:
Add reference to the assembly in web.config like this (where MyAssemblyName is the name of the assembly of your Web Part).

<system.web>
<compilation>
<assemblies>
<add assembly="MyAssemblyName, Version=XYZ, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=XYZ" />
</assemblies>
</compilation>
</system.web>

Forms Server: Invalid Canary for view file

Problem:
We have two Web Applications both containing one Site Collection. We have a custom InfoPath form in Forms Server and the form is activated on both site collections.

After the lunar eclipse, the form on the second site collection refused to work, giving an error on the browser:
"There has been an error while loading the form. A required resource could not be downloaded. To try to resume the download, refresh the page."

In MOSS log you can find interesting errors such as:

• "The Canary data been tampered with for form [FORM GUID]:ver:[VERSION]"
  
• Where [FORM GUID] is the GUID and [VERSION] is the version of your defective form
• "WARNING: Invalid Canary for view file."

Thoughts:
Form works fine on both site collections when using Firefox. When using IE, the other site collection's form does not work.

Solution:
Clear IE browser cache.

MOSS: Deleting site gives error message

Problem:
When deleting a site, you get error: 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR. Error is just black text on white background, nothing else.

Some errors are logged into MOSS log:

There is no Web named "/SiteA/testi/_layouts/webdeleted.aspx".

Possible mismatch between the reported error with code = 0x81070504 and message: "There is no Web named "/SiteA/testi/_layouts/webdeleted.aspx"." and the returned error with code 0x80070002.

Thoughts:
Simple.master page has been altered to brand the layout of different pages, which is causing the problem.

Workaround:
Revert Simple.master to original version that came with MOSS.

Solution:
You cannot have

<wssuc:Welcome id="IdWelcome" runat="server" EnableViewState="false"></wssuc:Welcome>

on the simple.master page. Remove it and it works, if not, remove controls from the page one by one until you find out the one causing the error.

MOSS: Backup and restore path-scoped and host-scoped site collections

Problem:
You cannot backup a host-based site collection and restore it as a path-based site collection. For example, you cannot backup site collection from http://service.company.com and restore it to http://anotherservice.company.com/sitecollection.. You could restore it without problems to http://anotherservice.company.com.

The backup and restore procedures will most probably succeed, but you will run into strange "File not found" errors when accessing some sites. Some sites work fine, but others give the error. When you run IISRESET sites that were working might start giving the error as the sites that were giving the error might start working.

Workaround:
According to MS Support, the site structure must be the same in source and destination environments. So, what it means, is that you cannot really use stsadm backup/restore for moving content between different environments if the structure of the web applications differ.

According to MS Support, the following steps should function as a basis for a workaround, although I haven't tried it. Basically what you do is that you alter the web application site collection structure in source environment before taking the backup. If you have tried this and it worked, please let me know.

Source environment:
Site collection 1: http://serviceA.companyA.com
Site collection 2: http://serviceB.companyA.com

Destination environment:
http://serviceA.companyB.com/serviceB
(where http://serviceA.companyB.com is site collection 1 an /serviceB is site collection 2)

So, the two site collections are backed up from source environment and combined under the same URL in destination environment so that source's site collection 2 is located under the site collection 1.

And finally, the steps for the workaround:

1. In source environment, create another site collection underneath the Web application where your site collection 1 is located (http://serviceA.companyA.com/serviceB)
   
2. In source environment, backup site collection 2
   
3. In source environment, remove site collection 2, the web application it belonged to and associated Databases
4. In source environment, restore the backup of the site collection 2 to the new site collection you created under site collection 1 (http://serviceA.companyA.com/serviceB) in step 1.
   
5. Backup and restore to the destination environment.

Solution:
Unknown

MOSS: Unknown error on Central Admin

Problem:
The front page of the Central Admin site works, but clicking on any link on the page gives "Unknown Error" (just black text on white background).

Workaround:
Reinstall MOSS and hope that it won't break again. Don't waste your time fiddling with Configuration Wizard, it won't do any good.

Ok, you might find the cause of the error by disabling custom error messages on the site.

Solution:
Many, depending on the error.

SharePoint Designer 2007: A World Wide Web browser, such as Windows Internet Explorer, is required to use this function.

Problem:
When trying to export SharePoint Site Template with SharePoint Designer 2007, an error is shown when you try to export site template. You have IE7 installed.

Error is: "World Wide Web browser, such as Windows Internet Explorer, is required to use this function."

Solution:
Unknown

MOSS: Self-service Site Creation is not available because there is no inclusion defined

Problem:
When you have defined that you want to Create new site collections from Site Directory and you try to create a new site you get the error: "Self-service Site Creation is not available because there is no inclusion defined." You have enabled Self-Service Site Creation in Central Management Site.

Solution:
You don't have a path with wildcard inclusion in "Central Administration > Application Management > Define Managed Paths". Add one path with wildcard inclusion and you're all set. This requirement is also mentioned in TechNet.