You cannot switch the user account in SharePoint Designer 2013

SharePoint Designer is a powerful application that enables the rapid creation, editing and deployment of content on the SharePoint platform.

Microsoft has already published a document on this issue and here is the KB article for this:

Microsoft KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2738178

Additional references:

Please refer the following error messages:

1.      Indexer process doesn’t free up old memory after repartitioning

2.      New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent checks the existence of RootDirectory in the wrong server

3.      PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer Help doesn’t open as expected

4.      PowerPoint intent isn’t shown

5.      Repair operations on SharePoint Standalone can delete your content database

6.      WSS Sync failed to run in because of a lack of profile database permission

7.      Cannot process argument because the value of argument"implementingType" is null. Change the value of argument "implementingType" to a non-null value.

8.      "Error occurred in deployment step 'Add Solution': Cannot start service SPUserCodeV4 on computer ..."

9.      Unable to retrieve topology component health states. This may be because the admin component is not up and running.

If you are facing any error messages which are listed above then please refer the following Microsoft article for the details workaround information:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/sharepoint-server-2013-known-issues-HA102919021.aspx

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.

SharePoint Designer permission requirements

SharePoint Designer is a powerful application that enables the rapid creation, editing and deployment of content on the SharePoint platform. As such, certain mandatory permission levels are required.

Detail Information:

As outlined in the article at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/managing-sharepoint-designer-2010-HA101838275.aspx

After enabling SharePoint Designer at the web application level and site collection level, the next steps are to select the users that will be enabled to access, create, and modify SharePoint content through SharePoint Designer.

SharePoint Designer is designed to request and use SharePoint permissions that grant the rights of managing & designing at the SharePoint site level it is not design to use the permission at a smaller granularity level such as list item level permissions..

Reference Documents:

1.      http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262939.aspx

2.      http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640.aspx

Conclusion:

To be able to use SharePoint Designer and modify SharePoint content, an user needs to be a member of one of the following groups at the site collection level:

1.      Site Collection Administrators group

2.      The Designers group

3.      Owners group

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.

Error: Spdesign.exe has been denied access to or there is no server on port 443 at .

Today one of my client reported with an issue while browseing some of the SharePoint sites using designer. Accessing sites using SharePoint gives the below error messages. 

Error: Spdesign.exe has been denied access to

 

Clicking Ok produces another error message as below.

Error: There is no server on port 443 at . You have selected the Connect using SSL Option. This connections problem may indicate that the server does not support Secure Socket Layer (SSL) communications, or that it uses SSL communications on a different port number.

 

I was clue less for the issue at the start since the sites were browseable using https//….. Protocol. So I started the troubleshooting based on the troubleshooting related to NIC card, VPN connection suspicion, SSL port disability (prompting for making calls server at 443 ports) from windows firewall. 

Tried to compare the SPD versions on the different machine where it was working not working and didn’t found any issue.

Tried to clear SPD Cache clearance by using the following steps:

1. Close SharePoint Designer.

2. Open My Computer.

3. Go to %System Drive%\Documents and Settings\%user%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\WebSiteCache. 

4. Delete all folders and files there.

5. Open the site using SPD and we still has the issue. 

On further checking for proxy used by SharePoint designer I noticed that actual issue was related to the wrong proxy usage with Designer.

The proxy was not configuring to make connection to the server using Secure Socket Layer at port 443. By changing the proxy settings in Designer we were able to access all of the sites using designer.

Steps to change Proxy using Designer. 

1. Open SharePoint Designer. 

2. Go to tools -> Application Options.

3.On General tab choose to click Proxy Settings. And change the proxy with is configured to use the SSL over http protocol. 

By changing the proxy for the client, we were able to open the sites from the SharePoint Designer. 

Note: This Proxy settings can also be configured via IE and you may be prompted to provide credentials to open the site for the first time in Designer. 

If you have any issue or query please do let me know, I would be more happy to help you answer.

Backup-Restore by using SharePoint Designer 2007

Steps to create the Backup of a SharePoint site using SharePoint Designer 2007 is provided below:

1.   Open site you want to Migrate in SharePoint Designer 2007

§  Copy the URL of the site.

§  Open SharePoint Designer 2007.

§  Go to File > Open Site.

§  Paste the URL of your site in Site Name.

§  Click Open. Designer will attempt to open the Web.

2.   Go to Site > Administration > Backup Web Site.

3.   Check “Include Sub Sites in Archive” if needed.

4.   Type a name for the backup file and save it to your desktop or somewhere that is easy to locate.

5.   Click “OK” – backup will begin.

6.   A message will appear when backup is complete.

Migrating Site to a New Site

1.   Create New Site under parent

·         Open SharePoint Designer 2007, and open the root parent site where you want to create your subsite.

·         Go to File > Open Site.

·         Type in the URL of the SharePoint web in the folder field.

·         Click OK; the designer will try to open your web.

2.   In the Folder List column, right-click on the top folder, e.g. "http://mosstest/sites/WSSsitename"

3.   Select New > Subsite...

4.   In the Web Site Templates window that appears, select the 'Empty Web Site' template.

5.   On the right-side of the Web Site Templates window you will see a box titled 'Specify the location of the new Web site'. In this box you should see a URL like http://mosstest/sites/WSSsitename/subsite

6.   Change subsite to the name you want your new site to use

7.   This will build a new empty site, and should open a new Designer session showing the empty site.

8.   Restore WSS site using the Restore site steps.

Restore the SharePoint site

Warning: Using the Restore feature in Designer can overwrite existing content or data in a site if not used properly. You should always restore the .cmp file to an empty site

·         With your web open, go to Site > Administration > Restore Web Site....

·         Navigate to the backup file you created in Step 1

·         Click Open.

·         Designer will ask you to press OK to restore the template to your site. Click OK. The Site will proceed to restore.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.