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My Sites troubleshooting

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

This article provides information to help IT professionals troubleshoot My Sites

We encourage you to give us your feedback. Your comments, suggestions, and troubleshooting tips can be incorporated into future versions of this content. You can send your feedback to us at ITSPDOCS@microsoft.com.

When the SharePoint administrator creates and configures My Sites for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, he or she, or end users, might encounter any of the following error messages or issues:

  • Cannot enable site creation because there is no site collection at "/" on the web application

  • There has been an error creating the personal site. Contact your site administrator for more information

  • File not found

  • Could not load user profile

  • Your personal site cannot be created because the managed path <text_string> has not been created. Contact your site administrator for more information

  • There was a problem retrieving data for this field. Updating values in this field is disabled temporarily. You can still update values in other fields

  • There are one or more errors with the data you have entered. The site does not contain a default keywords termstore

  • You do not have access to edit this user profile

  • An unexpected error has occurred

  • Colleagues' tags, notes, or ratings do not appear

  • User profile pictures are missing following an upgrade

Cannot enable site creation because there is no site collection at "/" on the web application

When the SharePoint administrator tries to enable self-service site creation for the Web application that hosts My Sites, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the Web application that hosts My Sites does not have a site collection at root path.

My Sites require that a site collection exist at the Web application root (which displays as / in the user interface). Without this, you will receive a message that indicates that there is no site collection at the root when you try to enable self-service site creation for the Web application. Because we recommend that you use a dedicated Web application to host My Sites, you should use the root path for the My Site host collection unless you have a specific requirement to create the site collection deeper in the uniform resource locator (URL) path.

If you create the My Site host deeper in the path, it must be under an explicit inclusion managed path. Additionally, you must create a separate site collection at the Web application root, although this site collection can be empty and created without a template. For more information about managed paths, see Define managed paths (SharePoint Server 2010).

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Site Collections section, click View all site collections.

  3. On the Site Collection page, in the Web Application box, verify that the Web application selected is the one that hosts My Sites. If it is not, click the down arrow, and then click Change Web Application to select the Web application that hosts My Sites.

  4. Verify that there is a site collection at the Web application root. If there is not, create a new site collection at the Web application root. This site collection can be empty and created without a template. For more information see, Create a site collection (SharePoint Server 2010).

There has been an error creating the personal site. Contact your site administrator for more information

When an end user tries to create an individual site collection on their personal My Site page by clicking the My Content link for the first time, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator does not use a wildcard inclusion managed path to configure the My Site Settings for the User Profile service application connected to the Web application that hosts My Sites. For example, the managed path is an explicit inclusion managed path. If you create the My Site host site collection that is deeper than the root path, the site collection must use an explicit inclusion managed path. For more information, see Plan for My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Service Applications section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application that is associated with the Web application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Operations section of the ribbon, click Manage.

  4. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the My Site Settings section, click Setup My Sites.

  5. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Personal Site Location section, verify that the value in the Location box is a wildcard inclusion managed path defined on the Web application that hosts My Sites. If not, create a new wildcard inclusion managed path for the Web application, and then use it as the value in the Location box. For more information see, Define managed paths (SharePoint Server 2010).

File not found

When an end user tries to create an individual site collection on their personal My Site page by clicking the My Content link for the first time, he or she might encounter the "File not found" error message.

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator performed the following sequence of tasks to create a Web application to host My Sites that is not a valid configuration:

  1. Created a My Site host site collection that is at the Web application root.

  2. Enabled self-service site creation for the Web application.

  3. Deleted the My Site host site collection at the Web application root.

  4. Created another My Site host site collection that is not at the Web application root. (/<some_string>) for the same Web application, on which self-service site creation is still enabled.

My Sites require that a site collection exist at the Web application root (which displays as / in the user interface). Because we recommend that you use a dedicated Web application to host My Sites, you should use the root path for the My Site host collection unless you have a specific requirement to create the site collection deeper in the uniform resource locator (URL) path.

If you create the My Site host deeper in the path, it must be under an explicit inclusion managed path. Additionally, you must create a separate site collection at the Web application root, although this site collection can be empty and created without a template. For more information about managed paths, see Define managed paths (SharePoint Server 2010).

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Site Collections section, click View all site collections.

  3. On the Site Collection page, in the Web Application box, verify that the Web application selected is the one that hosts My Sites. If not, click the down arrow, and then click Change Web Application to select the Web application that hosts My Sites.

  4. Verify that there is a site collection at the Web application root. If there is not, create a new site collection at the Web application root. This site collection can be empty and created without a template. For more information see, Create a site collection (SharePoint Server 2010).

Could not load user profile

When an end user tries to access their personal My Site by entering the URL in a supported browser, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator does not connect a User Profile service application with the Web application that hosts My Sites, or disconnects a User Profile service application from the Web application that hosts My Sites. For more information, see Set up My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Web Applications section, click Manage web applications.

  3. On the Web Application Management page, click the Web Application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Manage section of the ribbon, click Service Connections.

  4. In the Configure Service Connections Associations dialog box, ensure that a User Profile service application is selected and set as the default. For more information, see Set up My Sites (SharePoint Server 2010).

Your personal site cannot be created because Self-Service Site Creation is not enabled. Contact your site administrator for more information.

When an end user tries to create an individual site collection on their personal My Site by clicking the My Content link for the first time, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator does not enable self-service site create for the Web application that hosts My Sites.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Web Applications section, click Manage web applications.

  3. On the Web Application Management page, click the Web Application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Security section of the ribbon, click Self-Service Site Creation.

  4. In the Self-Service Site Collection Management dialog box, click On.

Your personal site cannot be created because the managed path <text_string> has not been created. Contact your site administrator for more information.

When an end user tries to create an individual site collection on their personal My Site by clicking the My Content link for the first time, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator does not use a valid wildcard inclusion managed path to configure the My Site settings for the User Profile service application connected to the Web application that hosts My Sites. For example, the managed path does not exist or is not spelled correctly.

The site collection that you create to host My Sites can be created at the root path of the Web application, although it can be created as an explicit inclusion managed path deeper in the URL as long as there is a site collection created at the Web application root. If you create My Sites at the root path, you must specify a valid explicit inclusion managed path when you configure the My Site settings in the User Profile service application. For more information about selecting the path for the My Site host collection, see My Sites architecture in the "Plan for My Sites" article.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Service Applications section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application that is associated with the Web application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Operations section of the ribbon, click Manage.

  4. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the My Site Settings section, click Setup My Sites.

  5. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Personal Site Location section, verify that the value in the Location box is a valid wildcard inclusion managed path defined on the Web application that hosts My Sites. If not, create a new wildcard inclusion managed path for the Web application, and then use it as the value in the Location box. For more information see, Define managed paths (SharePoint Server 2010).

There was a problem retrieving data for this field. Updating values in this field is disabled temporarily. You can still update values in other fields

An end user might encounter this error message when trying to update the following information in his or her profile:

  • Ask Me About

  • Office Location

  • Past projects

  • Skills

  • Schools

  • Interests

This error can occur if the SharePoint administrator connects a Managed Metadata service application to the Web application that hosts My Sites and the Managed Metadata Web service is stopped.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Service Applications section, click Manage services on server.

  3. On the Services on Server page, in the Managed Metadata Web Service row, click Start.

There are one or more errors with the data you have entered. The site does not contain a default keywords term store

An end user might encounter this error message when trying to close his or her profile after updating the following information:

  • Ask Me About

  • Office Location

  • Past projects

  • Skills

  • Schools

  • Interests

This error can occur when the SharePoint administrator has not configured a Managed Metadata service application and specified the connection as the default keyword term store for the Web application that hosts My Sites. A Managed Metadata service application enables Web applications to store and access keywords from a managed metadata term database. For My Sites, this functionality is required for users to specify keywords in the Ask Me About section or use keywords for social tagging. A Managed Metadata service application is highly recommended for My Sites. It must be configured as the default keyword term store for the Web application. For more information, see Managed metadata service application overview (SharePoint Server 2010).

You do not have access to edit this user profile

An end user might encounter this error message when trying to close his or her profile after updating the following information:

  • Ask Me About

  • Office Location

  • Past projects

  • Skills

  • Schools

  • Interests

This error can occur if the SharePoint administrator has connected a Managed Metadata service application to the Web application that hosts My Sites and the Managed Metadata Service Application connection has only Read Access to Term Store permission. For more information, see Grant permission to access a managed metadata service.

A Managed Metadata service application enables Web applications to store and access keywords from a managed metadata term database. For My Sites, this functionality is required for users to specify keywords in the Ask Me About section or use keywords for social tagging. A Managed Metadata service application is highly recommended for My Sites.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management.

  2. In the Service Applications section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the User Profile service application that is associated with the Web application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Operations section of the ribbon, click Permissions.

  4. In the Connection Permissions for Managed Metadata Service, click either Read and Restricted Write Access to Term Store or Full Access to Term Store.

An unexpected error has occurred

When an end user tries to add a file to the My Content page, he or she might encounter this error message.

This error can occur when the User Profile service is stopped.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

  1. Click Application Management

  2. In the Service Applications section, click Manage services on server.

  3. On the Services on Server page, in the User Profile Service row, click Start.

Colleagues' tags, notes, or ratings do not appear

When a user adds a colleague to their personal My Site, they should be able to see any tags, notes, or ratings that the colleague created and did not mark as private. Occasionally, colleagues' tags, notes and ratings might not appear for other reasons, as follows:

  • The SharePoint administrator has not enabled search for My Sites. Adding a tag, a note, or a rating to a Web page creates an activity. Before SharePoint Server displays an activity, it uses a component called the security trimmer to determine whether the current user has permission to view the Web page to which the activity applies. If the user is not permitted to view the Web page, SharePoint Server 2010 does not display the activity. If the security trimmer has insufficient information to determine whether a user has permission to view a Web page, it errs on the side of caution and reports that the user does not have permission to view the Web page. As a result, if search has not crawled a Web page, activities that relate to that Web page will not be displayed. For more information, see Privacy and security implications of social tagging (SharePoint Server 2010).

    For information about how to enable search, see Manage Search service applications (SharePoint Server 2010).

  • The SharePoint administrator has not enabled or has disabled the Activity Feed Job for the User Profile service application that is connected to the Web application that hosts My Sites.

    To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

    1. Click Monitoring.

    2. In the Timer Jobs section, click Review jobs definitions.

    3. On the Jobs Definitions page, in the Title column, click the Activity Feed Job for the User Profile service application.

    4. On the Edit Timer Job page, click Enable, and then click OK.

User profile pictures are missing following an upgrade

When the SharePoint administrator upgrades from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010, changes the URL of the farm, and then decommissions the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 farm, he or she might encounter this issue.

This issue occurs because SharePoint Server 2010 uses a different method for storing profile picture files. Therefore, after an upgrade, the URL for the individual profile picture files still link to the picture's former location. To link the profile pictures files to the correct location in the upgraded farm, use the following procedure.

To link the profile pictures to the correct location in the new farm

  1. To perform this procedure, verify that you meet the following minimum requirements:

  2. Copy the following code and paste it into a text editor, such as Notepad:

    $upm = new-object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager([Microsoft.SharePoint.SPServiceContext]::GetContext("http://oldURL"))

foreach($profile in $upm.GetEnumerator())
{
             $property = $profile.GetProfileValueCollection("PictureURL")
if ([System.String]::IsNullOrEmpty($property)) 
{
write-host The user profile does not have a profile picture.;

}
else
{
$property.Value = $property.Value.Replace("http://oldURL", "http://newURL")
$profile.Commit()
}
}

  3. Replace http://oldURL with the URL for the Web application that hosted the old My Sites site collection.

    Replace http://newURL with the URL for the Web application that hosted the new My Sites site collection.

  4. Save the file, naming it ChangeProfilePictureURLs.ps1.

    Note

    You can use a different file name, but you must save the file as an ANSI-encoded text file whose extension is .ps1.

  5. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  6. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  7. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  8. Change to the directory where you saved the file.

  9. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    ./ChangeProfilePictureURLs.ps1

  10. After you have run the script, you must also run the Update-SPProfilePhotoStore cmdlet to update the profile photo store to be compatible with SharePoint Server 2010.

    At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    Update-SPProfilePhotoStore -MySiteHostLocation <URL of the My Site host>

    For more information, see Update-SPProfilePhotoStore.

See Also

Other Resources

Running Windows PowerShell Scripts