SharePoint / Guide 14
Troubleshooting
Common error messages and what actually fixes them.
On-premises
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
The term 'Get-SPSite' is not recognized |
SharePoint cmdlets not loaded | Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell, or use SharePoint Management Shell |
Cannot access the local farm |
Account lacks SharePoint_Shell_Access / not elevated |
Run as administrator; Add-SPShellAdmin (see Getting started, tip 4) |
Access denied on a content DB in a script |
Shell admin granted on config DB only | Add-SPShellAdmin -UserName ... -Database $db for each DB |
| "The attempted operation is prohibited because it exceeds the list view threshold" | Query over 5,000 items without an index | Index filter/sort columns; use folders or filtered views |
| Timer jobs stuck / servers out of sync | Stale configuration cache | Clear the config cache (SharePoint Server tips, tip 10) |
| Users report an error with a correlation ID | Anything | Get-SPLogsByCorrelation.ps1 -CorrelationId <id> |
Content DB shows NeedsUpgrade = True after patching |
PSConfig not run, or failed | Run PSConfig on each server; then Upgrade-SPContentDatabase |
| Shell memory keeps growing during a long script | Undisposed SPSite/SPWeb | Dispose in finally blocks or use Start-SPAssignment |
| Pages slow to load images, CSS and scripts; high SQL load | BLOB cache not enabled | Enable it on every web server (see the BLOB cache guide) |
| Changed image or CSS still shows the old version | BLOB cache or browser cache | Flush with Set-SPBlobCache.ps1 -Flush; rename updated branding files |
| First page of the day takes 30+ seconds | Application pool recycled overnight, nothing warmed it | Schedule Invoke-SPWarmup.ps1 after the recycle (Performance guide) |
| Event ID 7362 about the object cache super user | Portal super user/reader accounts not set | Set-SPObjectCacheAccounts.ps1, then iisreset on each web server |
| Publishing sites return "access denied" to everyone after a change | Object cache accounts wrong or missing | Check the accounts with Set-SPObjectCacheAccounts.ps1 -WebApplication <url> |
| Servers show different patch levels in Central Administration | PSConfig not run on every server | Get-SPPatchStatus.ps1, then Invoke-SPPostPatchConfig.ps1 on the servers behind |
| Health Analyzer: server not compliant with its role | A service was started or stopped by hand | Let MinRole fix it, or check with Get-SPServiceMatrix.ps1 |
| Popularity Trends reports are empty | Usage data collection off, or search analytics not running | Reporting and BI guide, "SharePoint's own analytics" |
SharePoint Online
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
AADSTS700016 / application not found when running Connect-PnPOnline |
Using the retired shared PnP app | Register your own app and pass -ClientId (Getting started, tip 2) |
Connect-SPOService fails in PowerShell 7 |
Module compatibility | Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell -UseWindowsPowerShell, or use Windows PowerShell 5.1 |
(429) Too Many Requests / (503) Server Unavailable |
Throttling | Slow down, batch, run off-hours; PnP retries automatically |
Access denied on Get-SPOUser for a site |
Not a site collection admin there | Temporarily add yourself with Set-SPOUser -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true |
List view threshold error with Get-PnPListItem |
No paging | Add -PageSize 500 |
| Search doesn't show new columns/content | Not crawled yet | Request-PnPReIndexList / Request-PnPReIndexWeb |
| Storage still high after deleting versions/files | Items are in the recycle bins | Check first- and second-stage recycle bins; they count toward storage |
General habits that prevent most problems
- Run with
-WhatIffirst, and read what it says it will do. - Start a transcript before any change.
- Test in a non-production site or farm.
- Change one thing at a time, and write down what you changed.