SharePoint Emergency Checklist

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

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.