It seems that out of the blue my users have lost the ability to follow sites. All attempts to follow sites give the following error:

Sorry, we couldn't follow the site.

Technical Details

InternalError : Could not follow the item

ULS logs show the following:

SPRequest.GetMetadataForUrl: UserPrincipalName=i:0).w|s-1-5-21-1715567821-562591055-682003330-20360, AppPrincipalName= ,bstrUrl=http://<sitecollection>/Lists/PublishedFeed ,METADATAFLAGS=59

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002), StackTrace:
Access denied.

SPRequest.GetFileAndFolderProperties: UserPincipalName=i:0).w|s-1-5-21-1715567821-562591055-682003330-20360, AppPrincipalName= ,bstrUrl=http://<mysitesurl> ,bstrStartUrl=Social/Private/FollowedSites ,ListDocsFlags=24584 ,bThrowException=False System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access denied.

• Edited by Matt Kesler Thursday, January 02, 2014 7:41 PM

Did you check the following blog post? Basically make sure your application pool account have permission to your personal site database.

http://rogierdijkman.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/8/

The service application accounts have the correct permissions on both the mysites content database and the content database for the site that I am trying to follow.

The error still persists though.

• Edited by Matt Kesler Thursday, January 02, 2014 10:06 PM

Matt The account that you need to check permission for will be account used by application pool for your personal site web application and application pool for your web application where your site collection is. Please let me know if there is any question.

Sorry, I used the incorrect term.  It is the application pool account that has the appropriate permissions on the content DBs for both web apps.

In that case can you please read the following thread? There were couple of interesting suggestions. There are few related to permissions and from the information you have provided it looks like permission issue but still go through this thread and see if it helps.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ec778ad8-0bb2-427d-928e-0dd29e7ab061/error-sorry-we-couldnt-follow-the-site?forum=sharepointadmin

Hi,

According to your post, my understanding is that some users could not follow site.

To narrow down the issue, you can use a admin user to check whether you can follow a site.

If so, the issue would be related to the user permission.

Whats more, did the site enable the Following content and Site Feed feature?

You can check whether the following site had been enable these features.

http://radutut.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/following-sites-in-sharepoint-2013/

There are three similar articles for your reference.

http://sharepointsoldiers.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/sharepoint-2013-following-sites-not-working/

http://www.msserveradmin.com/sharepoint-2013-sorry-we-couldt-follow-the-document-or-site/

http://mrhodes.net/2012/07/31/sharepoint-2013-follow-not-working-across-web-applications/

               

Thanks & Regards,

Jason

Hi.

Did you find a solution for this?

My issue was the users mysite hit the quota.

Solution: The user deleted a few docs in their One Drive for Business and emptied the recycle bin and it worked.

ULS said the following when trying to follow a site:

FollowedContent.FollowItem:Exception:Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: This site has exceeded its maximum file storage limit. To free up space, delete files you don't need and empty the recycle