SharePoint 2013 People Picker Error: Sorry, we’re having trouble reaching the server

Problem: While trying to add a new user to a SharePoint group, SharePoint 2013 People Picker displayed the error: “Sorry, we’re having trouble reaching the server.” Troubleshooting: The server may not have enough resources such as Memory to process the function without timing out. Try adding more memory to your SharePoint 2013…

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Approval Workflow Missing in SharePoint 2016?

Problem: SharePoint approval workflow not available! This happened after migrating from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2016! Solution: This is due to a workflow feature not being activated for the site collection. Activate the “Workflows” feature for the site collection to resolve this issue. Steps in detail: PowerShell Script to activate Workflows feature…

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“Object reference not set to an instance of an object” Error on Creating Site Collection

Problem: On creating a new Site Collection in SharePoint 2016, I got this error message “Object reference not set to an instance of an object”! On Checking the ULS logs, it revealed detailed errors as: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPContentDatabaseCollection.FindBestContentDatabaseForSiteCreation(IEnumerable`1 contentDatabases, Guid siteIdToAvoid, Guid webIdToAvoid,…

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How to Change Server MinRole After Installing SharePoint 2016?

One of the exciting new features in SharePoint 2016 is Minrole. It defines the server’s role in the SharePoint 2016 farm and ensures all necessary services are running on that server! SharePoint 2016 comes with the below Minroles: Single Server Farm Front End Application Distributed Cache Search Custom Change MinRole in  SharePoint…

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Add Alternate Access Mapping in SharePoint using PowerShell

Alternate Access Mappings helps to expose a SharePoint web application to different URLs in scenarios such as publishing, load balancing, reverse proxy, etc. Each web application can have up to five different URLs through alternate access mapping, with the “Default” zone as mandatory and other optional zones. How to Configure Alternate Access…

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How to Redirect in SharePoint using Alternate Access Mapping (AAM)?

Internal URL in SharePoint Alternate Access Mapping is used to redirect from one URL to another. E.g., If you want to redirect or transform from “https://portal.crescent.com” into “https://intranet.crescent.com” use this feature! So, you enter “https://portal.crescent.com” in the address bar of your browser, and it takes you to “https://intranet.crescent.com”! How to Add URL…

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Export SharePoint Configuration Inventory to XML using PowerShell

Requirement: We had to compare specific SharePoint inventories between different environments, such as web applications, content databases, etc. So had to extract and export SharePoint configurations into an XML file. PowerShell Script to Export Web Applications List into XML Export SharePoint list data to XML using PowerShell: Script output: Inventory Web Applications…

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How to Configure Secure Store Service Application in SharePoint 2016 – Step by Step

Secure Store Service Application in SharePoint Secure store service enables you to securely store credentials required to connect to external systems and associate those credentials to a specific identity or group of identities. Secure Store Service solves the problem of sign-in into many applications and entering different usernames and passwords. This is…

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How to Get SharePoint Farm ID using PowerShell?

Requirement: Get SharePoint Farm ID to apply a third-party product license to our SharePoint 2016 environment. How to Get SharePoint Farm ID? SharePoint farm ID is a GUID that uniquely identifies each farm. To get the Farm ID in SharePoint, use this handy PowerShell code. Just open SharePoint 2016 Management Shell and paste…

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How to Disable SharePoint Designer using PowerShell?

SharePoint Designer 2013 is a great free tool from Microsoft to customize SharePoint sites and create workflows. Why should we disable SharePoint designer? Well, In some cases, site owners and designers may damage SharePoint with this Powerful utility, and I’ve seen SharePoint designers become SharePoint destroyers! So, to prevent irreversible damage to…

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