difference of structure and content error

Question

I hope you guys can help me with this weird issue.

I have three sub-sites (Site A, Site B, and Site C) under a main site collection in SharePoint 2010. Each sub-site has child sub-sites as well. I can access the Content & Structure page (_layouts/sitemanager.aspx) for the site collection root, Site A and Site B without a problem. But I get a runtime error when I try to access Site C content & structure page.

The same error appears for all sub-sites under Site C. Also I can access the settings page for all the sites without a problem. But for Site C and its children I can't access the navigation settings page.

When I checked the logs and Event Viewer I found the following error:

Exception information: 
Exception type: NullReferenceException 
Exception message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. 

Request information: 
Request URL: http://sharepoint/_Layouts/sitemanager.aspx?Source={WebUrl}_layouts/settings.aspx 
Request path: /_Layouts/sitemanager.aspx 
User host address: fe60::444:762c:476e:9f61/ 
User: devee
Thread information: 
Thread ID: 56 
Thread account name: admin 
Is impersonating: False 
Stack trace:    at   Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WebControls.ObjectSerializer.DeleteAllowed(Boolean checkPermissions) at     Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WebControls.SmtButtonField.FormatDataValue(Object     dataTextValue, Boolean encode) at           System.Web.UI.WebControls.BoundField.OnDataBindField(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at    Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.WebControls.SmtButtonField.OnDataBindField(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.Web.UI.Control.OnDataBinding(EventArgs e)
  at System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind(Boolean raiseOnDataBinding)
  at System.Web.UI.Control.DataBindChildren()
  at System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind(Boolean raiseOnDataBinding)
  at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.CreateRow(Int32 rowIndex, Int32     dataSourceIndex, DataControlRowType rowType, DataControlRowState rowState, Boolean     dataBind, Object dataItem, DataControlField[] fields, TableRowCollection rows,     PagedDataSource pagedDataSource)
   at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.CreateChildControls(IEnumerable         dataSource,     Boolean dataBinding)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.SPGridView.CreateChildControls(IEnumerable     dataSource, Boolean dataBinding) at 
System.Web.UI.WebControls.CompositeDataBoundControl.PerformDataBinding(IEnumerable    data) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.PerformDataBinding(IEnumerable data)at            System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataBoundControl.OnDataSourceViewSelectCallback(IEnumerable     data)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataBoundControl.PerformSelect()
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataBoundControl.EnsureDataBound()
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.OnPreRender(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal()
at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal()
at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal()
at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal()
at System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal()
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

I checked the following items:

1. I checked all lists under Site C and found no issues in them.
2. I restarted the sharepoint services and timer several times.
3. I made sure no new web parts were installed and as I understand if the problem was in a feature or a web part is should've affected other sites within the site collection, right?

The site was working fine until last week and I can't figure out the change the caused this error.

So please let me know if you've faced similar issues or have any suggestions.

Answer 1

Can you check for duplicate SharePoint lists with the same name in each of the Site's within View All Site Content. I have seen those cause problems in Managing Content and Structure.

If you get a duplicate list make sure your Recycle Bin is switched on then delete the list and restore using the Recycle Bin.

Regards Simon

Answer 2

I've experienced something similar, and it was due to corrupt lists in one or more of the sub sites. Go to each list, choose List Settings and try to open the "per location view" setting. If it shows you an error message, re-create the list(s) and the problem should be solved.

Answer 3

You may try the below

1. IISReset - on all the servers.
2. $web.Lists | select ID - get the GUID of all the list and access the settings page - https://webApplication/listedit.aspx?List={ListGUID}
3. Backup & restore the site.

Answer 4

Disable any custom feature you activated on sub site C if there is any, then try again. also try to run the stsadm command (stsadm -o databaserepair) to delete the orphan items.

Also don't forget to do the traditional actions for MS product, reset IIS and restart all farm servers

Let me know if not working