Resolving SharePoint Application Authentication Error: Login Failed on Web Front End Server(s)

Problem

If you try to log in to the SharePoint web application (http://site.company.com) using host header on the server itself, your windows credential doesn’t work but you can access the same site from outside. The problem happens when you create a SharePoint web application with a host header (site.company.com) on the SharePoint Server (Server Name: company.com) which is installed on Windows Server 2008. This is a known issue with SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010 on the Windows Server 2008 platform and this problem is happening even with the recent patches.

Solution

I had the same problem before when I put the host header in for my production site and I was unable to login from production server itself. The main reason for this issue is that Windows includes a loopback security check feature that helps prevent reflection attacks on your computer. Therefore, authentication fails if the FQDN or the custom host header that you use does not match the local computer name, as the system blocks the authentication procedure while resolving the host header given to the web application. Additionally, you always get the following prompt even though you put correct username and password.

To proof the previous statement, you have to go to the event viewer. If you check the event viewer logs on the “Security” category, you will see something like the one below under the Audit Failure Keyword

Check event viewer log

• Click Start, click Run, type eventvwr, and then click OK.
• Click on Security under Windows Log

Do the following steps to resolve this error by modifying the server’s registry to specify the host name. To specify the host names that are mapped to the loopback address and that can connect to Web sites on your computer, follow these steps:

• Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
• In the Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0.
• Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value.
• Type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER.
• Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify.
• In the Value data box, type the host name or the host names for the sites that are on the local computer, and then click OK.
• Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

The name placeholder is considered a host header. It is an alternative name for the computer on which Reporting Services is installed. You must add the NetBIOS and the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for name to the BackConnectionHostNames list that is stored in the Windows registry.

For example, if the name is a Windows computer name, such as contoso, the name can likely also be referenced in FQDN form as contoso.domain.com. You must add both representations to the list in BackConnectionHostNames.

So, The above registry modification must be done for all other SharePoint applications which are using Host Header.

Thanks,
JK

Retrive all deployed solutions / .WSP files from the Farm

Hi All,

please do find below Power Shell script which will retrieve all deployed solutions to the local drive:

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint") 
$farm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::Local 
$farm.Solutions | % {  
$filename = ($pwd.ToString() + "\" + $_.SolutionFile.Name);  
write-host ("Saving" + $filename);  
$_.SolutionFile.SaveAs($filename) 
       } 

save this above lines of code as a .ps1 file and execute [Won't support if OS is Windows server 2003]

tested in SharePoint 2007 environment [Windows server 2008 r2], you can try in 2010 also.

Thanks,

JK

Hide part of link in global navigation breadcrumb

Hi Friends,

Here the user requirement is to hide top level site URL(link) in the global Navigation breadcrumb in the sub site home page (where user is going to share the site URL with others), and not to hide entire breadcrumb.

Actual snap:

so i proceed to check with the IE Developper tool. and the structure in side DIV for the breadcrumb is as:
<SPAN id="ct100someblablablaID".... >
       <span>
          <a class="anchorclass">ROOT SITE COLLECTION</a>
       </span>
       <span>
          TEXT (>)
       </span>
       <span>
          <a class="anchorclass">SUB SITE COLLECTION</a>
       </span>
       <span>
          TEXT (>)
       </span>
and so on.

so decided to go with JQuery SLECTORS. and the respected script as follows:

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {

$('#ctl00_PlaceHolderGlobalNavigation_PlaceHolderGlobalNavigationSiteMap_GlobalNavigationSiteMap span:nth-child(4)').css({'display':'none'});
$('#ctl00_PlaceHolderGlobalNavigation_PlaceHolderGlobalNavigationSiteMap_GlobalNavigationSiteMap span:nth-child(5)').css({'display':'none'});

});
</script>

so in the script selecting sub span elements with in root element SPAN ID,
$('#ROOT_ELEMENT_ID span:nth-child(4)').css({'display':'none'});
this hides my ">" char & selection child node 5 hides my "ROOT SITE URL".

and resulted O/P :

JQuery saved my life....

Regards,
JK

"Failed to load the workflow" error popup when try to open workflow in SharePoint Designer

When you open SharePoint Designer 2007 to create a new workflow, you get this error “Failed to load the workflow”

Solution One:
- Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint Designer\ProxyAssemblyCache\(12.x.x.xxxx)
or
C:\users\<your user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint Designer\ProxyAssemblyCache\(12.x.x.xxxx)
and delete 12.x.x.xxxx folder.
- Open SharePoint Designer again and it should work this time.

If it is still not working for you then try

Solution Two:
- Change trust level in the .NET 2.0 Configuration (the MMC snap-in, found in Administrative Tools).
- Go to .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration > Runtime Security Policy.
- Choose “Adjust Zone Security” and change Local Intranet to “Full Trust”
It should now work at this point, if not
Go to Intranet options, pushed the slider up to full trust.
Someone might have posted about that but it’s good if this post can help few.

Powershell script to List All Sharepoint Site collections and sub sites

Hi,

i came up with an requirement to gather all the site collections and sites and sub sub sites in our 2007 & 2010 environment. so decided to prepare a poweshell script which can list all site collection and it's sub webs list under the site collection and a Final count. the script as follows:

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint") > $null
$siteUrl = Read-Host "Enter Site URL"
$rootSite = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($siteUrl)
$spWebApp = $rootSite.WebApplication
$count = 0
           write-host "Site Collections"
           write-host ""
    foreach ($site in $spWebApp.Sites) {
        $count++
        write-host "Site Collections URL --> -->" $site.URL
           write-host ""
           write-host "SubSites"
           write-host ""
    foreach ($web in $site.AllWebs) {
        $count++
        write-host "SubSite URL --> --> -->" $web.URL 
        write-host ""
    } 
}
write-host "Total Count :" $count

Hope this script help in your requirement too.

Regards,
JK