Starting the Foundation Administration Service (SP2010)

While preparing for a demonstration to a local SharePoint user group I encountered an issue regarding the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration service. I was tasked with demonstrating the numerous capabilities of Axceler ControlPoint so I was in the process of installing the tool on a farm contained on a single VM.

Using the properly configured accounts I stepped through the installation process and eventually reached a screen that displayed some validation results before the next step of the installation. All of them were paired with encouraging green check marks except for one which showed a red X. To the right of the red X a message was displayed, "The SharePoint Administration service is not running." The installation process would not continue until the service was started so I followed the steps listed below to fix the problem.


1. Navigate to Central Administration > System Settings > Manage services on server and see what IS started. In the upper right corner, set the View to All. The Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration service appeared on the list but the list did not display a Status value.

2. I then navigated to the Local Services view of the Management Console (Start >  Run > services.msc) where I found the service listed by a different name than that listed in CA. SharePoint 2010 Administration appeared on this list, but it was not started.

3. Start the service. Right-click on the service and select Start in the context menu.

After waiting a few minutes for the service to start I resumed my ControlPoint installation and it completed without a hitch. Microsoft has quick list of the steps that I have described here: http://is.gd/VOXIy0

Create an Image Map Using SharePoint Designer

The steps below detail the simple process of creating an image map in an .aspx page using SharePoint Designer 2010.

1)  Edit your page in SharePoint Designer

2)  Insert an image to which you would like to attach a hyperlink

3)  Click on the image to select it

4)  Above the ribbon, click on the Picture Tools (Format) tab

5)  In the ribbon, click on the Hotspot button

6)  Select the type of Hotspot that you would like to generate (Highlight, Polygonal, Rectangular, Circular)

7)  Drag your cursor to highlight a portion of the image

8)  When the Insert Hyperlink dialogue appears, insert the target URL in the Address field

9)  Click OK and save your page

10) You are done!!! Test your page in a browser.

Note: Hotspots are not available publishing pages

SharePoint 2010 Evaluation VM

Here is a good option if you ever need to have a no frills SP2010 VM. These three Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V virtual machines are available for download from Microsoft.

• Office 2010
• SharePoint 2010
• Project Server 2010

Microsoft Download Center

Moving a Content Database Between Farms

Below are the five basic steps needed to move a content database from one farm (F1) to another (F2.) This post assumes that you are performing the task manually, not using a migration tool.

1. Detach the content database from F1 using theDismount-SPContentDatabase PowerShell cmdlet .
2. Detach the content database in SSMS for F1.
3. Move the the content database files (.mdf, .ldf, .ndf) to F2.
4. Attach the content database in SSMS for F2.
5. Attach the content database to F2 using the Mount-SPContentDatabase PowerShell cmdlet.

For a higher level of detail, visit

Workflow Initiation Form Error

While creating a solution for a client, I encountered this issue. The goal was to copy and modify the out of the box (OOB) SharePoint 2010 workflow; customize it; and associate it to a content type.

The Problem

Upon completing and submitting the workflow initiation form; the form presents an error: The form cannot be submitted because of an error.

The Solution

Uninstall KB2553322, a security update for both InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010. I uninstalled both patches and rebooted the server. From there I was able to copy and modify the workflow, eventually submitting the workflow initiation form. Of course, before trying any of this in the client’s environment I took the time to create a VM. I tested my updates on the VM and then repeated it for the client. There have not been any subsequent issues. Hopefully Microsoft will issue an update patch in the near future.

For additional information:

• TechNet - Cannot type approvers in a workflow after copied a resuable workflow template
• TechNet - Form error in reusable workflow

Some do not seem to have the same luck that I did uninstalling the security update for InfoPath. For those people, there are several other "solutions" that have worked for other people.

• This issue is also posted by Paul Quilty using a different approach. He resolves the issue by editing a  xoml.wconfig.xml file.
• Yash Goley has a series of steps that one can try.