Link to a list throws a 404 with 0000 Correlation ID

Question

When sending a URL to another person, the valid SharePoint URL throws two different errors on first then second page load. For example: https://oursites/communities/SP/Lists/ListOfUsers/AllItems.aspx

The first is:

Server Error in '/' Application.

The resource cannot be found. 

Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.  Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly. 

The second is:

Sorry, something went wrong 
An unexpected error has occurred. 
Technical Details 


Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation. 

Correlation ID: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

The user opening the URL has appropriate access to view the content. The URL is correct. The web application, site collection, and list view all work for everyone else. The user can load the site from the base URL. The list loads when opening from Site Contents.

Answer 1

The problem is caused when copying and pasting URLs between Microsoft products, in particular Lync/Skype. Microsoft products sometimes add invisible characters onto the end of URLs.

The URL should be: https://oursites/communities/SP/Lists/ListOfUsers/AllItems.aspx

What is actually being loaded by IE is: https://oursites/communities/SP/Lists/ListOfUsers/AllItems.aspx%C2%A0

The character/s on the end are invisible. The user may not notice them in the browser URL bar.

When this URL is loaded for the first time SharePoint throws an exception at the application level. The second time the resource is loaded it throws a null correlation ID.

Solution: When copying and pasting URLs make sure there are no invisible characters are the beginning or end.

This is not really a SharePoint problem, however, it does happen a lot around here due to how Lync/Skype and SharePoint interact.