Import-SPWeb throws exception "A duplicate field named [guid here] was found"

Question

From the SharePoint 2010 Powershell console, I'm importing a site collection into the same parent site collection as the source. (ie. http://parent/sites/sourcesite has been exported with Export-SPWeb and now imported as http://parent/sites/targetsite).

I'm getting an exception "Import-SPWeb: A duplicate field name 'guid' was found."

How can I track this down what field this might be? If it's a field in the target that has the same GUID in the source, shouldn't the force parameter on Import-SPWeb overwrite it on the target? Ultimately, what do I do about it?

EDIT

@Gilloux - thanks for the pointer. Now for some more info.

The site I'm exporting / importing I think was derived from a MOSS 2007 Collaboration Site template. I think... When I created the target site as a Blank Site, I received an error stating that the target needed to be created from the template SPS#0.

The ULS has an entry:

"Failed to find generic XML file at '[14 hive]\Template\SiteTemplates\SPS\xml\vwstyles.xml", falling back to global site definition."

The folder is present, but this file is not.

From what I've been able to find out, SPS#0 is an obsolete template so this may be at least part of the problem.

Is there any way I can complete this export / import task?

Answer 1

Even though that SPS#0 site template is not visible when using the GUI, you can still create a site using that template.

Firstly, using this PS command, you can check the installed Site Templates:

Get-SPWebTemplate

Next, you need to create your target site with that template:

New-SPSite -Template "SPS#0" -Name "TESTER" -Url "http://servername/path/sitename" -OwnerAlias "domain\username"

Lastly, Import using :

Import-SPWeb "http://site" -Path export.cmp -UpdateVersions -Overwrite -Force

Hope this helps.