Cannot complete this action - Error

[Richard B]

This is truly a mysterious error:

If no one has been logged on to the server for a while (20-30mins) the next
user who logs on recieves this message:

Error - Cannot complete this action.
Please try again.
Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services"

The user logs on with his own credentials (wich is tested, and is not
deleted and recreated)
When the user refreshes the page, he views the page perfectly, and continues
without errors.

The same thing happens, when the server has been idle for a while.

This is a mystery to me. Anybody got ideas?

--
Thanks,

Richard B

[Mike Walsh]

The time scale you mention matches the default time after which a user needs
to re-identify themselves to a WSS server.

However that is on the client machine so unless your users are directly
accessing the server I presume we can exclude it.

Strange coincidence though ...

Mike Walsh, Helsinki, Finland
WSS FAQ at http://wss.collutions.com
Please reply to the newsgroup

"Richard B" <Rich...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:891DBB48-4F8F-4B68...@microsoft.com...

[Richard B]

HURRAY: It seems like I have solved it now. Believe it or not. This could be
important to several people. Maybe this should be on your Blog, Mike?

In the end I managed to produce the error. If you go into the IIS manager on
your WSS server, continues to DefaultAppPool, right click, and press
"recycle", the error always appears when I re-enter the site.

The solution was to switch the Identity to my admin user (SPSADMIN) and we
have not seen the error since.

--
Thanks,

Richard B

[Mike Walsh]

To get it in the FAQ (not the blog - that's transient) you'll have to give
me more.

On my site (the one I looked at) in IIS for the Default App Pool I have

a) Properties / Recycling as as check for "Recycle worker processes (in
minutes)" and this is set to (the no doubt default) 1740 minutes.

what do you have there ?

then

b) Properties / Identity is set to Predefined / Network Service

what did you have when things weren't working and are you now specifying
Predefined or Configurable with SPSADMIN ?

Note: I haven't a clue what Recycling does - anybody want to give me a quick
explanation ? Does anyone also have a good text for a FAQ item on this ?

Mike Walsh, Helsinki, Finland

"Richard B" <Rich...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:889148AA-E3E2-45D3...@microsoft.com...

['click-happy' Lane@discussions.microsoft.com Steve 'click-happy' Lane]

Hi all,

I had this problem too - same timeout after ~20mins of server inactivity.
I've literally just found out the fix though (well, worked for me...):

Go to IIS MMC-> 'Application Pools'->Properties of
'DefaultAppPool'->'Performance' and uncheck the 'Idle timeout: Shutdown
worker processes after being idle for (time in minutes)'.

Hope this helps.

Steve Lane.

[Cam]

I recently rebuilt my sharepoint server after a hardware failure. The config
and content databases were recovered but now I'm having a similar error with
my WSS site (i.e. cannot complete this action...) when trying to edit list
column names, reorder columns, and create workspaces/sites from a template
downloaded from microsoft. The problem doesn't appear to be related to time
or a specific user. I am still able to access all site pages and data and I'm
able to create new lists and add items to existing lists. I'm not 100%
confident that I setup my application pools correctly and used the proper
user accounts but it seems odd that everything else works fine.

Can you point me in the right direction? I've been searching the
knowledgebase and there forums for days.

Thanks
Cam

[Cam]

additional info:
i did some checking and my Sharepoint Central Admin web site is running
under a separate application pool from the default web site (extended with
sharepoint). the application pool used for the Central Admin site is running
under the "Network Service" account. the application pool used for the
default web site is running under a Local Administrator account on the
server. also note that this Local Administrator account is also the "Site
Collection Owner" for the sharepoint site.

thanks again for your help on this one
Cam

[Cam]

CORRECTION:
scratch that. both the central admin and default web sites are running in
the same application pool which uses the Local Administrator account
mentioned below

[Jeffrey B. Murphy]

I am having the EXACT same problem, except I did not rebuild. All I did
was apply WSS SP2.
I can not edit coulmn names and I can't add chosies to a choice drop down list.
Please can some one help?

[Cam]

interesting. i did install wss sp2 before restoring the data in my content
and config databases. i thought i was on sp2 before the restore but maybe i
was wrong?

cam

[Jeffrey B. Murphy]

WSS SP2 came out on 9/27/2005. So mayb you didn't have it installed?

I am stuck. No one can edit a column or add choices to a choice drop down list.
I don't know where to turn. Anyone have any suggestions?

Please? Mr Walsh?

[Jeffrey B. Murphy]

I called Technical Support. Here is how they solved my problem. Maybe
this will help someone

Issue:
Could not edit columns on a list, could not add choices to a choice
drop down list, could not import a spreadsheet.

Resolved:
Seems that my WSS SP2 installed the updated files but did not update
the SQL database.
When I went to Central Administration -> Windows SharePoint Services ->
Configure virtual server settings - it listed my sharepoint site as
needing to be upgraded. I ran the following command and it fixed it:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server
extensions\60\BIN>STSADM.EXE -o upgrade -forceupgrade

In the future, the tech support guy suggested that I run all the WSS
Service Packs and Patches as the service account.

Hope that helps someone.

On 2005-10-18 18:13:07 -0400, Jeffrey B. Murphy

[Cam]

Good to hear you found a solution Jeffrey. Thanks for posting it on the
newsgroup. Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to solve my problem as
"Central Administration" does not indicate that my site needs to be upgraded.
Did they suggest any other fixes?

Thanks
Cam

[Brad Covelle]

I had this same problem, it was due to a security issue. Whenever an admin
would log in, and then a non-admin the non-admin could get in fine, but if I
did an iisreset or waited for some time and then tried the non-admin, I
would get the error you get. I had a custom site template on the site but
this wasn't the problem. It turns out that the security on some of the files
was not set correctly.

I ran filemon.exe then logged on as the non-admin, viewed the filemon log,
saw some Access Denied messages, found the files it was trying to access and
then gave the appropriate rights to the file. I had to add the app pool
account to these files and then the problem was taken care of.

--
Brad Covelle
NuSoft Solutions
bcov...@nusoftsolutions.com

"Cam" <C...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5822B024-BA23-4CEC...@microsoft.com...

[Cam]

In case anyone is still having this error. I contacted MS phone support and
they found a resolution for me. You can read my comments here:
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs&mid=097f4c8d-808b-4e83-8bdf-64cb12fa0424&sloc=en-us&sloc=en-us

Thanks to everyone for all your help anyway
Cam

[andrew.b...@gmail.com]

Hi, Cam!
I'm having the same problem, but the link you gave doesn't work for
several days.
Could you please copy your comment here?

Thanks in advance.
Andrew

[Dustin Miller]

That post says to run:

stsadm.exe -o upgrade -forceupgrade

-----
Dustin Miller
SharePoint University (Community) [http://www.sharepointu.com]
SharePoint Bootcamp (Training) [http://www.sharepointbootcamp.com]
SharePoint Blogs (Blogs) [http://www.sharepointblogs.com]
SharePoint Experts (Business) [http://www.sharepointexperts.com]

[andrew.b...@gmail.com]

Thanks.
Unfortunately I've already tried that metod.

[andrew.b...@gmail.com]

ok. I solved this problem.
I went to Add/Remove programs, reinstalled MS Windows sharepoint
Services (choosed "change" and then "reinstall"), and ran stsadm.exe -o
upgrade -forceupgrade

Thanks for all