Forms Authentication - Users not read in central admin and access denied

Question

I am looking for assistance in configuring FBA for Sharepoint. I have configured the db using aspnet_regsql as well as defined the configuration at 3 web.config files (STS, web app and central admin). However, the following issues arise and I have followed at least a dozen different web sites on the topic but the problem persists. The two issues that I face are:

i) Once the user logs in with FBA, Access is denied. I know the cause for that. It is because there is no default association between FBA Roles and sharepoint groups. However, the 2nd point that I raise below is why i cant create this association

ii) The user names (Central Admin --> web App --> user policy tab --> zone ---> add users) does not list any users in the database. I can see the FormsAuth tab in the left frame (but the only group i see is FORMS AUTHENTICATION ALL USERS.) The search for user names is empty as well.

I have also configured the PeoplePickerWildcards element in central config All my passwords are hashed because they were created with ASP.NET WEB SITE CONFIGURATION TOOL. Earlier, I was creating usernames by executing SQL queries directly on the SQL SERVER EXPRESS using SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO. However, then i switched to using the configuration tool thinking that may be the cause rests somewhere in an incorrectly stored password due to hashing requirements. However, even that switch did not resolve the issue.

Please help me out as this issue has taken the entire work day of today :)

Thanks

Answer 1

I believe there's an issue with your membership provider entries in the web.config. One common issue is that the your membership database connection entry uses windows authentication, but the permissions haven't been setup on the database for the account that SharePoint runs as (check the application pool identity in IIS).

Also, I have not modified the PeoplePickerWildcards element in my installation - the people picker works fine with the default settings.

Here are the guides that I use to configure: SP2010: http://donalconlon.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/configuring-forms-base-authentication-for-sharepoint-2010-using-iis7/

SP2013 (my own): http://blogs.visigo.com/chriscoulson/configuring-forms-based-authentication-in-sharepoint-2013-part-1-creating-the-membership-database/

Answer 2

I had the same problem but it is resolved by assigning the

• aspnet_Membership_FullAccess
• aspnet_Roles_FullAccess

to the db user which used in the Role Provider and Membership Provider, this Link will help you your problem, Use the IIS Manger Wizard to avoid mistakes in config files.