Configure Self Service Site Creation in SharePoint

What is Self Service Site Creation in SharePoint?
To create a new site collection in SharePoint, Usually, SharePoint Administrators use the SharePoint Central Administration site or SharePoint Management Shell. The self-Service Site Creation feature enables end-users to create site collections within a particular web application on their own. Self-service site creation is not enabled by default. For the “My Site” host web application, it should be enabled in order to provision SharePoint My Sites.

In a project collaboration environment, We had a requirement to enable end-users to create their own Site collections without the help of SharePoint administrators.

How to enable self-service site creation in SharePoint?

You can enable/disable SSC in these three ways:

1. Using SharePoint central admin to configure Self-service site creation in SharePoint 2013
2. Using PowerShell to enable self-service site creation in SharePoint
3. Using STSADM to enable self-service site creation

Using Central Admin to Configure Self Service Site Creation in SharePoint 2013:
Go to your SharePoint 2013/2016 central administration site >> Application Management >> Manage Web Applications >> Select your target web application >> Click on the “Self-Service Site Creation” button from the ribbon.

It’s a best practice to set quota and specific managed path for Self Service Site Creation – So that we can keep users in control.

How to enable Self-Service site creation using STSADM:

stsadm -o enablessc -url https://crescent.com

This enables self-service site creation in SharePoint 2013. You can disable self site creation in SharePoint 2010 using Stsadm:

stsadm -o disablessc -url https://crescent.com

Enable self-service site creation in SharePoint 2016 with PowerShell:

Add-PSSnapin microsoft.sharepoint.powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Enable Self Service Site Creation 
Write-Host "Enabling Self Service Site Creation..."
$WebApp = Get-SPWebApplication "https://crescent.com"
#sharepoint 2013 enable self service site creation powershell 
$webApp.SelfServiceSiteCreationEnabled = $true
$webApp.RequireContactForSelfServiceSiteCreation = $false
$webApp.Update()

SharePoint self service site creation link
Once SSC is enabled, users get a “New Site” link in their My Sites.

You can directly access Self Service Site creation page URL at: https://your-sharepoint-web-app/_layouts/15/scsignup.aspx

Create Self Service Site programmatically with PowerShell:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

#Configuration Variables
$WebAppURL ="https://crescent.com" 

$SiteCollectionUrl ="https://crescent.com/projects/sales"
$SiteTitle="Sales Site" 
$Description=""
$Locale="1033"
$Template ="STS#0"
$AdminLogin="crescent\SP_Farm"
$AdminName="Farm Account"
$AdminEmail="SP_Farm@crescent.com"
$SecondaryAdminLogin="crescent\SP_Setup"
$SecondaryAdminName="Setup Account"
$SecondaryAdminEmail="SP_setup@crescent.com"

$RootSite = Get-SPSite $WebAppURL

$RootSite.SelfServiceCreateSite($SiteCollectionUrl, $SiteTitle, $Description, $locale, $template, $AdminLogin, $AdminName ,$AdminEmail, $SecondaryAdminLogin, $SecondaryAdminName, $SecondaryAdminEmail)

You may get: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)) error while creating SharePoint self service site programmatically if you don’t have enough access.

 SharePoint self service site creation permissions:

Once the self service site creation is enabled, Any user can create site collections from their My Sites! However, it’s possible to restrict this feature within a particular group of people, Say for e.g., You may want to limit this feature available only within a specific team. (provided, that specific team has an Active Directory security group!).

Step 1: Remove “Self Service Site Creation” from user permissions.
Go to Central administration >> Application Management >> Manage Web Applications >> Select your target web application >> Click on “User Permissions” icon from the ribbon >> Scroll down and remove “Self Service Site Creation” permission.

Step 2: Create a new permission policy with “Self service site creation” access.
From the Manage web applications page, Click on “Permission Policy” >> Add Permission Level Policy >> Give it a name and description (I’ve named it as: Self Site Creators – Users who can Create Site collections). Choose “Self service site creation” access and Click “OK” to save your changes.

Step 3: Add a web application user policy to assign the permission policy to the required user group.
We have the permission policy ready. Now, the last step is to add a web application user policy by clicking “User Policy” from the ribbon >> Click on “Add Users” >> Select “All Zones”, Click Next >> Specify the relevant group allowed to create site collections through self site creation. Choose the permission policy created (Self Site Creators – Users who can Create Site collections).