Hi,

I'm troubleshooting an exception in a SharePoint 2013 farm, which occurs on a frequent basis.

Some background on the farm:
The farm has been upgraded from SP2010 to SP2013 (about 3 weeks ago). Everything seems to be working just fine, but the exception in question is bugging me.

Here's the exception with stacktrace:

Event log message was: 'Failed to create the 'Documents' library.'. Exception was: 'Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: A list, survey, discussion board, or document library with the specified title already exists in this Web site.  Please choose another title. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: A list, survey, discussion board, or document library with the specified title already exists in this Web site.  Please choose another title.<nativehr>0x81020012</nativehr><nativestack></nativestack>
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.CreateList(String bstrWebUrl, String bstrTitle, String bstrDescription, String bstrListUrl, String bstrFeatureId, Int32 lTemplateID, String bstrDocTemplateType, ListQuickLaunchOptions qlOpt, Boolean bProvisionViewsAndForms, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListInstanceModuleCallback, String bstrListInstanceSolutionInfo, String bstrListInstanceFeaturePath, String bstrListInstanceFeatureId, String bstrCustomSchemaXml, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListTemplateModuleCallback, String bstrListTemplateSolutionInfo)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.CreateList(String bstrWebUrl, String bstrTitle, String bstrDescription, String bstrListUrl, String bstrFeatureId, Int32 lTemplateID, String bstrDocTemplateType, ListQuickLaunchOptions qlOpt, Boolean bProvisionViewsAndForms, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListInstanceModuleCallback, String bstrListInstanceSolutionInfo, String bstrListInstanceFeaturePath, String bstrListInstanceFeatureId, String bstrCustomSchemaXml, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListTemplateModuleCallback, String bstrListTemplateSolutionInfo)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.CreateList(String bstrWebUrl, String bstrTitle, String bstrDescription, String bstrListUrl, String bstrFeatureId, Int32 lTemplateID, String bstrDocTemplateType, ListQuickLaunchOptions qlOpt, Boolean bProvisionViewsAndForms, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListInstanceModuleCallback, String bstrListInstanceSolutionInfo, String bstrListInstanceFeaturePath, String bstrListInstanceFeatureId, String bstrCustomSchemaXml, ISPEnableModuleCallback pListTemplateModuleCallback, String bstrListTemplateSolutionInfo)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListCollection.CreateList(String strTitle, String strDescription, String strListUrl, String strFeatureId, Int32 templateID, String strDocTemplateType, String strDataSource, String customSchemaXml, SPFeatureDefinition listInstanceFeatureDefintion, QuickLaunchOptions qlOpt, CreateFlags flags)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListCollection.Add(String title, String description, String url, String featureId, Int32 templateType, String docTemplateType, QuickLaunchOptions quickLaunchOptions)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListCollection.Add(String title, String description, String url, String featureId, Int32 templateType, String docTemplateType)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.ProvisioningHelper.AddList(SPListCollection lists, String urlName, String title, String description, Guid featureId, Guid[] previousVersionFeatureIds, Int32 templateType, Boolean& newListCreated)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.ProvisioningHelper.AddList(SPListCollection lists, String urlName, String title, String description, Guid featureId, Guid[] previousVersionFeatureIds, SPListTemplateType templateType, Boolean& newListCreated)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.AreaProvisioner.CreateDocumentsDocumentLibrary(SPList approvalTaskList)'

So, does anyone have a clue about what could cause this?

Thanks!

Hi,

Its probably caused because the documents library is already created by the publishing feature. (It auto creates that library as soon as you activate the publishing feature). 

Look at this post for more information: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/a67557d8-7150-453e-b2a5-f268ea42fadf/failed-to-create-documents-library-error-when-activate-publishing-feature?forum=sharepointadminlegacy

Cheers,
Jeroen