Site template is great when migrating site, you can just save an existing site as a template and then upload it to any sites you want. Most of time, it works just as well as it should be. But occasionally, it could drive you crazy. Imaging someday, when you try to create a site from a existing site template, you receive the following error message --
"The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found."
Sometimes, I hate the way how SharePoint deals with errors. First of all, the above error message doesn't make any sense, even you go to the SharePoint log files under C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS hive, you can hardly figure out what exactly the problem is.
But after looking at the log, I start relizing that the issue might be related to feature activation (Seems SharePoint logs do give us a little help:)). So I looked into the manifest.xml file in the stp file (Stp file is in fact CAB file, you can simply rename and give it a CAB extension and open it using any unzip tools), and go to <SiteFeatures> or <WebFeatures> element, you can find there are a list of features under this element. Then what you need to do is compare those features with SharePoint OOB features, and remove those custom features from the list. After modifing the manifest.xml file, you can create a new cab file and rename it back with CAB extension, then you are on your way!
You're probably wondering how to get a list of SharePoint OOB features, well, there is a guy who already provided it to us. For your convenience, I paste it here again.
Someone's maybe wondering, "Why you not just deactive the feature from the site and then save it as a template", to be honest, that site template is took from a running production environment, I don't have enough permission to do that and our customers don't willing to take the risk to deactive those features from a production environment. It's not that useful for most of cases, but when one day you were in the same situation as I was, then you would give me a hug:).
"The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found."
Sometimes, I hate the way how SharePoint deals with errors. First of all, the above error message doesn't make any sense, even you go to the SharePoint log files under C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS hive, you can hardly figure out what exactly the problem is.
11/06/2008 15:37:42.22...Failed to mark site-scoped features active in site 'http://testsite:88/ts'.
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...Failed to apply template "Workspace Template.stp" to web at URL "http://testsite:88/ts".
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...Failed to apply template "Workspace Template.stp" to web at URL "http://testsite:88/ts", error The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found. 0x81071e44
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found.
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...Failed to apply template "Workspace Template.stp" to web at URL "http://testsite:88/ts".
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...Failed to apply template "Workspace Template.stp" to web at URL "http://testsite:88/ts", error The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found. 0x81071e44
11/06/2008 15:37:42.24...The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found.
But after looking at the log, I start relizing that the issue might be related to feature activation (Seems SharePoint logs do give us a little help:)). So I looked into the manifest.xml file in the stp file (Stp file is in fact CAB file, you can simply rename and give it a CAB extension and open it using any unzip tools), and go to <SiteFeatures> or <WebFeatures> element, you can find there are a list of features under this element. Then what you need to do is compare those features with SharePoint OOB features, and remove those custom features from the list. After modifing the manifest.xml file, you can create a new cab file and rename it back with CAB extension, then you are on your way!
You're probably wondering how to get a list of SharePoint OOB features, well, there is a guy who already provided it to us. For your convenience, I paste it here again.
| Feature Id | Display Name | Scope | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99ee0928-7342-4739-865d-35b61ea4eaf0 | BDCAdminUILinks | Farm | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| cdfa39c6-6413-4508-bccf-bf30368472b3 | DataConnectionLibraryStapling | Farm | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| e4e6a041-bc5b-45cb-beab-885a27079f74 | ExcelServer | Farm | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| a10b6aa4-135d-4598-88d1-8d4ff5691d13 | ipfsAdminLinks | Farm | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| a573867a-37ca-49dc-86b0-7d033a7ed2c8 | PremiumSiteStapling | Farm | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 395702f0-184c-46a2-9bb5-0a64b048738c | Analytics | Farm | |
| 97a2485f-ef4b-401f-9167-fa4fe177c6f6 | BaseSiteStapling | Farm | |
| aeef8777-70c0-429f-8a13-f12db47a6d47 | BulkWorkflow | Farm | |
| 0f121a23-c6bc-400f-87e4-e6bbddf6916d | ContentLightup | Farm | |
| fead7313-4b9e-4632-80a2-ff00a2d83297 | ContentTypeSettings | Farm | |
| 1ec2c859-e9cb-4d79-9b2b-ea8df09ede22 | DMContentTypeSettings | Farm | |
| 81ebc0d6-8fb2-4e3f-b2f8-062640037398 | EnhancedHtmlEditing | Farm | |
| 0125140f-7123-4657-b70a-db9aa1f209e5 | FeaturePushdown | Farm | |
| 4d0d9bec-5103-4663-b88d-27cfab1029ff | FeaturePushdownTask | Farm | |
| 319d8f70-eb3a-4b44-9c79-2087a87799d6 | GlobalWebParts | Farm | |
| fc33ba3b-7919-4d7e-b791-c6aeccf8f851 | ListTargeting | Farm | |
| 8a663fe0-9d9c-45c7-8297-66365ad50427 | MasterSiteDirectoryControl | Farm | |
| 69cc9662-d373-47fc-9449-f18d11ff732c | MySite | Farm | |
| 0faf7d1b-95b1-4053-b4e2-19fd5c9bbc88 | MySiteCleanup | Farm | |
| c922c106-7d0a-4377-a668-7f13d52cb80f | OSearchCentralAdminLinks | Farm | |
| edf48246-e4ee-4638-9eed-ef3d0aee7597 | OSearchPortalAdminLinks | Farm | |
| fcd4c704-ed7a-42fb-ab30-2bb0ab6494c8 | OSearchSRPAdminLinks | Farm | |
| af847aa9-beb6-41d4-8306-78e41af9ce25 | ProfileSynch | Farm | |
| 001f4bd7-746d-403b-aa09-a6cc43de7942 | PublishingStapling | Farm | |
| 6d127338-5e7d-4391-8f62-a11e43b1d404 | RecordsManagement | Farm | |
| f324259d-393d-4305-aa48-36e8d9a7a0d6 | SharedServices | Farm | |
| fead7313-4b9e-4632-80a2-98a2a2d83297 | SiteSettings | Farm | |
| 937f97e9-d7b4-473d-af17-b03951b2c66b | SkuUpgradeLinks | Farm | |
| 65d96c6b-649a-4169-bf1d-b96505c60375 | SlideLibraryActivation | Farm | |
| 612d671e-f53d-4701-96da-c3a4ee00fdc5 | SpellChecking | Farm | |
| 713a65a1-2bc7-4e62-9446-1d0b56a8bf7f | SPSDisco | Farm | |
| 11df38ab-5bbb-4304-9da8-221c5c4100b0 | SpsSsoLinks | Farm | |
| c43a587e-195b-4d29-aba8-ebb22b48eb1a | SRPProfileAdmin | Farm | |
| ee21b29b-b0d0-42c6-baff-c97fd91786e6 | StapledWorkflows | Farm | |
| 82e2ea42-39e2-4b27-8631-ed54c1cfc491 | TransMgmtFunc | Farm | |
| f0deabbb-b0f6-46ba-8e16-ff3b44461aeb | UserMigrator | Farm | |
| e15ed6d2-4af1-4361-89d3-2acf8cd485de | ExcelServerWebApplication | WebApplication | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 0ea1c3b6-6ac0-44aa-9f3f-05e8dbe6d70b | PremiumWebApplication | WebApplication | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 4f56f9fa-51a0-420c-b707-63ecbb494db1 | BaseWebApplication | WebApplication | |
| d992aeca-3802-483a-ab40-6c9376300b61 | BulkWorkflowTimerJob | WebApplication | |
| bc29e863-ae07-4674-bd83-2c6d0aa5623f | OSearchBasicFeature | WebApplication | |
| 4750c984-7721-4feb-be61-c660c6190d43 | OSearchEnhancedFeature | WebApplication | |
| 14173c38-5e2d-4887-8134-60f9df889bad | PageConverters | WebApplication | |
| 1dbf6063-d809-45ea-9203-d3ba4a64f86d | SearchAndProcess | WebApplication | |
| 2ac1da39-c101-475c-8601-122bc36e3d67 | SPSearchFeature | WebApplication | |
| 43f41342-1a37-4372-8ca0-b44d881e4434 | BizAppsCTypes | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 5a979115-6b71-45a5-9881-cdc872051a69 | BizAppsFields | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 4248e21f-a816-4c88-8cab-79d82201da7b | BizAppsSiteTemplates | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 3cb475e7-4e87-45eb-a1f3-db96ad7cf313 | ExcelServerSite | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| c88c4ff1-dbf5-4649-ad9f-c6c426ebcbf5 | IPFSSiteFeatures | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 8581a8a7-cf16-4770-ac54-260265ddb0b2 | PremiumSite | Site | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| b21b090c-c796-4b0f-ac0f-7ef1659c20ae | BaseSite | Site | |
| 00bfea71-1c5e-4a24-b310-ba51c3eb7a57 | BasicWebParts | Site | |
| 695b6570-a48b-4a8e-8ea5-26ea7fc1d162 | CTypes | Site | |
| c85e5759-f323-4efb-b548-443d2216efb5 | ExpirationWorkflow | Site | |
| ca7bd552-10b1-4563-85b9-5ed1d39c962a | Fields | Site | |
| fde5d850-671e-4143-950a-87b473922dc7 | IssueTrackingWorkflow | Site | |
| 14aafd3a-fcb9-4bb7-9ad7-d8e36b663bbd | LocalSiteDirectoryControl | Site | |
| e978b1a6-8de7-49d0-8600-09a250354e14 | LocalSiteDirectorySettingsLink | Site | |
| 863da2ac-3873-4930-8498-752886210911 | MySiteBlog | Site | |
| 49571cd1-b6a1-43a3-bf75-955acc79c8d8 | MySiteHost | Site | |
| 6928b0e5-5707-46a1-ae16-d6e52522d52b | MySiteLayouts | Site | |
| 89e0306d-453b-4ec5-8d68-42067cdbf98e | Navigation | Site | |
| c9c9515d-e4e2-4001-9050-74f980f93160 | OffWFCommon | Site | |
| 7ac8cc56-d28e-41f5-ad04-d95109eb987a | OSSSearchSearchCenterUrlSiteFeature | Site | |
| 5f3b0127-2f1d-4cfd-8dd2-85ad1fb00bfc | PortalLayouts | Site | |
| 24d7018d-bf48-4813-a28d-dbf3dba173b1 | PublishingB2TRHop2SiteFilesUpgrade | Site | |
| fd3dd145-e35e-4871-9a6d-bf17f28a1c19 | PublishingB2TRSiteFilesUpgrade | Site | |
| d3f51be2-38a8-4e44-ba84-940d35be1566 | PublishingLayouts | Site | |
| a392da98-270b-4e85-9769-04c0fde267aa | PublishingPrerequisites | Site | |
| aebc918d-b20f-4a11-a1db-9ed84d79c87e | PublishingResources | Site | |
| f6924d36-2fa8-4f0b-b16d-06b7250180fa | PublishingSite | Site | |
| 8156ee99-ddfb-47bb-8835-7ae42d40d9b9 | ReportCenterCreation | Site | |
| 7094bd89-2cfe-490a-8c7e-fbace37b4a34 | Reporting | Site | |
| 02464c6a-9d07-4f30-ba04-e9035cf54392 | ReviewWorkflows | Site | |
| eaf6a128-0482-4f71-9a2f-b1c650680e77 | SearchWebParts | Site | |
| 6c09612b-46af-4b2f-8dfc-59185c962a29 | SignaturesWorkflow | Site | |
| c6561405-ea03-40a9-a57f-f25472942a22 | TranslationWorkflow | Site | |
| 7c637b23-06c4-472d-9a9a-7c175762c5c4 | ViewFormPagesLockDown | Site | |
| 2ed1c45e-a73b-4779-ae81-1524e4de467a | WebPartAdderGroups | Site | |
| d250636f-0a26-4019-8425-a5232d592c09 | AddDashboard | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 065c78be-5231-477e-a972-14177cc5b3c7 | BizAppsListTemplates | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 00bfea71-dbd7-4f72-b8cb-da7ac0440130 | DataConnectionLibrary | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 750b8e49-5213-4816-9fa2-082900c0201a | IPFSAdminWeb | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| a0e5a010-1329-49d4-9e09-f280cdbed37d | IPFSWebFeatures | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 0806d127-06e6-447a-980e-2e90b03101b8 | PremiumWeb | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| 2510d73f-7109-4ccc-8a1c-314894deeb3a | ReportListTemplate | Web | Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server |
| fead7313-ae6d-45dd-8260-13b563cb4c71 | AdminLinks | Web | |
| 56dd7fe7-a155-4283-b5e6-6147560601ee | AnalyticsLinks | Web | |
| 00bfea71-d1ce-42de-9c63-a44004ce0104 | AnnouncementsList | Web | |
| 99fe402e-89a0-45aa-9163-85342e865dc8 | BaseWeb | Web | |
| 3f59333f-4ce1-406d-8a97-9ecb0ff0337f | BDR | Web | |
| 00bfea71-7e6d-4186-9ba8-c047ac750105 | ContactsList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-de22-43b2-a848-c05709900100 | CustomList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-f381-423d-b9d1-da7a54c50110 | DataSourceLibrary | Web | |
| ca2543e6-29a1-40c1-bba9-bd8510a4c17b | DeploymentLinks | Web | |
| 00bfea71-6a49-43fa-b535-d15c05500108 | DiscussionsList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-e717-4e80-aa17-d0c71b360101 | DocumentLibrary | Web | |
| 00bfea71-ec85-4903-972d-ebe475780106 | EventsList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119 | GanttTasksList | Web | |
| 5b1e6e3b-83c2-483b-8500-16a025777ed1 | GradualUpgrade | Web | |
| 00bfea71-3a1d-41d3-a0ee-651d11570120 | GridList | Web | |
| 9e56487c-795a-4077-9425-54a1ecb84282 | Hold | Web | |
| 00bfea71-5932-4f9c-ad71-1557e5751100 | IssuesList | Web | |
| 6e53dd27-98f2-4ae5-85a0-e9a8ef4aa6df | LegacyDocumentLibrary | Web | |
| 00bfea71-2062-426c-90bf-714c59600103 | LinksList | Web | |
| 8f15b342-80b1-4508-8641-0751e2b55ca6 | LocalSiteDirectoryMetaData | Web | |
| 7fe16263-b3fd-454f-a3e8-ed05fdf2adb6 | MigrationLinks | Web | |
| f41cc668-37e5-4743-b4a8-74d1db3fd8a4 | MobilityRedirect | Web | |
| 6adff05c-d581-4c05-a6b9-920f15ec6fd9 | MySiteNavigation | Web | |
| 034947cc-c424-47cd-a8d1-6014f0e36925 | MySiteQuickLaunch | Web | |
| 541f5f57-c847-4e16-b59a-b31e90e6f9ea | NavigationProperties | Web | |
| 00bfea71-f600-43f6-a895-40c0de7b0117 | NoCodeWorkflowLibrary | Web | |
| 068f8656-bea6-4d60-a5fa-7f077f8f5c20 | OsrvLinks | Web | |
| 0b4aad40-406f-425c-bdd9-5894c42cffcb | OsrvTasks | Web | |
| 10bdac29-a21a-47d9-9dff-90c7cae1301e | OssNavigation | Web | |
| 7acfcb9d-8e8f-4979-af7e-8aed7e95245e | OSSSearchSearchCenterUrlFeature | Web | |
| 00bfea71-52d4-45b3-b544-b1c71b620109 | PictureLibrary | Web | |
| 22a9ef51-737b-4ff2-9346-694633fe4416 | Publishing | Web | |
| 94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb | PublishingWeb | Web | |
| 306936fd-9806-4478-80d1-7e397bfa6474 | RedirectPageContentTypeBinding | Web | |
| e8734bb6-be8e-48a1-b036-5a40ff0b8a81 | RelatedLinksScopeSettingsLink | Web | |
| c5d947d6-b0a2-4e07-9929-8e54f5a9fff9 | ReportCenterSampleData | Web | |
| a311bf68-c990-4da3-89b3-88989a3d7721 | SitesList | Web | |
| 0be49fe9-9bc9-409d-abf9-702753bd878d | SlideLibrary | Web | |
| 00bfea71-eb8a-40b1-80c7-506be7590102 | SurveysList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-a83e-497e-9ba0-7a5c597d0107 | TasksList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-4ea5-48d4-a4ad-7ea5c011abe5 | TeamCollab | Web | |
| 29d85c25-170c-4df9-a641-12db0b9d4130 | TransMgmtLib | Web | |
| 2fa4db13-4109-4a1d-b47c-c7991d4cc934 | UpgradeOnlyFile | Web | |
| 00bfea71-c796-4402-9f2f-0eb9a6e71b18 | WebPageLibrary | Web | |
| 8c6a6980-c3d9-440e-944c-77f93bc65a7e | WikiWelcome | Web | |
| 00bfea71-4ea5-48d4-a4ad-305cf7030140 | WorkflowHistoryList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-2d77-4a75-9fca-76516689e21a | workflowProcessList | Web | |
| 00bfea71-1e1d-4562-b56a-f05371bb0115 | XmlFormLibrary | Web |
Someone's maybe wondering, "Why you not just deactive the feature from the site and then save it as a template", to be honest, that site template is took from a running production environment, I don't have enough permission to do that and our customers don't willing to take the risk to deactive those features from a production environment. It's not that useful for most of cases, but when one day you were in the same situation as I was, then you would give me a hug:).
