Search Box Disappeared (Foundation)

Hello,

We are running SharePoint Foundation 2013. Installed about 6 months ago.  Real small installation, running all services on one box, Windows 2012. SQL server 2008 R2. Up to date with all patches on OS, SQL Server and SharePoint.

We originally configured the basic search function and it was working just fine.  Then about a week ago, the search box just disappeared, and I can't seem to get it back no matter what I try.

The SharePoint Server Search/Crawl service is working just fine. I can find and browse results through Search Admin.

However, whenever I run a query through the Search Admin Query Builder or whenever I try and add the Search Box web part onto any page, I the error "Common Language Runtime detected an invalid program."

Logs register the following error each time:

w3wp.exe (0x32C0) 0x1714 SharePoint Foundation Runtime tkau Unexpected System.InvalidProgramException: Common Language Runtime detected an invalid program.    at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.SearchCommon.GetUserAdvancedLanguageSettingsUrl()     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.ScriptApplicationManager..ctor()     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.ScriptApplicationManager.GetCurrent(Page page)     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.DisplayScriptWebPart.OnInit(EventArgs e)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)     at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) 9dd4599c-4997-3034-812e-20a3ab4d7343

Anyone have any ideas how I can fix this?


November 24th, 2013 8:39pm

I have exactly the same, since running the server updates from last 'Patch Tuesday' !

Please Help !

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November 25th, 2013 3:45pm

The default search box web part has disappeared from all the pages on all the site collections on my SPF server !

When I go manually to the 'Basic Sharepoint Search' pages, I have to close the Search Box web part manually by 'Web Part Maintenance' before the page loads. When I then try to add the Search Box Web Part manually, I get an error: "Common Language Runtime detected an Invalid Program". I have tried iisreset without success.

What can be the root-cause ? How to fix this ? Will there be a hot-fix ?

Thx, johmut

November 25th, 2013 4:56pm

It looks like the November updates to SharePoint that came in through regular Windows Updates have corrupted the "Search Box" web part (and perhaps more). The updates were done last week, SharePoint was used before I could do the psconfig post-processing.

How can I fix / restore / reinstall the corrupted web parts only ?

Please help, I am getting closer and closer to declaring an emergency and requesting a full restore from backup, losing a week's worth of work on the sites.

Thx, johmut

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November 26th, 2013 1:00pm

http://blogs.technet.com/b/stefan_gossner/archive/2013/10/26/october-2013-cu-for-sharepoint-2013-has-been-released.aspx
November 26th, 2013 1:26pm

How do you mean ? How will this help ? Can I reinstall the October 2013 CU even if Windows Update installed the November updates for SharePoint (which is what I believe messed everything up) ?
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November 26th, 2013 8:19pm

I have downloaded the October 2013 CU and installed it over the SharePoint Foundation 2013 installation. Then did the PSConfig.exe upgrade again. Both completed successfully. Search box is still missing, Configuration Wizard complaines on "Failed to create sample data" after step 7. In Central Administration the Farm Configuration link is gone ? I believe what I have here is a very sick puppy... I am close to a full uninstall / reinstall of SPF 2013. Hope to restore the contents from the full farm backups I have been taking. Any tips ? BR, johmut
November 29th, 2013 1:50pm

Normally that would indicate a 32bit vs 64bit dll\executable issue.  Is there any ULS logs you can post to help us find where the problem could be in the exception stack?
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December 1st, 2013 8:49pm

Attached a link to today's ULS Log, nothing I can see that sheds some light on the worrying disappearance of my 'search box' ....

http://sprend.com/download.htm?C=70f422ba52834a328f106dc7cf893dc9

December 2nd, 2013 11:02am

Do you have a solution for this yet ? I don't.
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December 4th, 2013 2:00pm

No solution as of yet. But there are others out there who are experiencing the same issue. Apparently it is caused by a bug in the October CU that is affecting non English versions of Foundation 2013.

http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/12/10/sharepoint-foundation-2013-broken-search-experience.aspx

Teaches me a a lesson I guess ... DON'T EVER INSTALL Microsoft patches for a few months after their initial release. Wait to see what problems they cause to others first.

December 11th, 2013 9:29am

It appears the newly released KB2850058 does the same thing. I tested it out in a test farm and my search box was gone. Make sure to vet these SharePoint patches before installing on your main farm, always, always, always use a test farm, with a copy of your existing data if possible. I would recommend Todd Klindt's guide on this here: http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=433 as a pretty good outline on this issue.

Edit: I spelled his name wrong, even when it was in the link. Been a long day.


  • Edited by Theantioch Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:55 PM
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December 12th, 2013 1:51am

It appears the newly released KB2850058 does the same thing. I tested it out in a test farm and my search box was gone. Make sure to vet these SharePoint patches before installing on your main farm, always, always, always use a test farm, with a copy of your existing data if possible. I would recommend Todd Klindt's guide on this here: http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=433 as a pretty good outline on this issue.

Edit: I spelled his name wrong, even when it was in the link. Been a long day.


  • Edited by Theantioch Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:55 PM
December 12th, 2013 1:51am

It appears the newly released KB2850058 does the same thing. I tested it out in a test farm and my search box was gone. Make sure to vet these SharePoint patches before installing on your main farm, always, always, always use a test farm, with a copy of your existing data if possible. I would recommend Todd Klindt's guide on this here: http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=433 as a pretty good outline on this issue.

Edit: I spelled his name wrong, even when it was in the link. Been a long day.


  • Edited by Theantioch Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:55 PM
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December 12th, 2013 1:51am

It appears the newly released KB2850058 does the same thing. I tested it out in a test farm and my search box was gone. Make sure to vet these SharePoint patches before installing on your main farm, always, always, always use a test farm, with a copy of your existing data if possible. I would recommend Todd Klindt's guide on this here: http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=433 as a pretty good outline on this issue.

Edit: I spelled his name wrong, even when it was in the link. Been a long day.


  • Edited by Theantioch Wednesday, December 11, 2013 10:55 PM
December 12th, 2013 1:51am

Yes Theantioch, you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, it's just not possible in all situations to have proper testing environments, especially in small companies just like the one where I'm trying to fix this thing.

I've found that my server with the missing search box does not seem to have the March SharePoint Foundation PU installed (KB2768000). This must have been missed because that is exactly the time when this server was set up. Microsoft gives strict warnings that this PU is a prerequisite for all subsequent CUs.

So, it appears in my case that the April, June, August and October CUs were all installed without the March PU. Ouch! This sounds like it could be the source of my issue.

OK. Now my question is, can I just apply the March PU now? Possibly then have to reinstall the April-October CU? Or would this just make a bigger mess?

Any suggestions?



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December 12th, 2013 9:09am

I am also guilty of installing the latest Microsoft CU's and patches without having a proper test environment, trusting Microsoft to increase quality all the time instead of breaking stuff going forward. Hoping for a fix, again I installed over 30 updates released by MS on this week's 'Patch Tuesday', however to no avail. My 'Search Box' is still missing... (and by the way I cannot use 'Farm Configuration' wizard any more from central admin site to remove and reinstall search features?)

I did install the March PU and all subsequent PU's and CU's alike, so I don't think this will bring you a solution.

There seems to be a real issue with the 'search' related .aspx's as the pages do not show the search box and the pages on the search url load with errors into 'Sorry, something went wrong' leaving you the option to go into 'web parts maintenance' and remove the 'Search Box' and 'Search Navigation' web parts before the page will load. Adding the "Search Box" web part results in an error: Common Language Runtime detected an invalid program" Search Navigation" web part seems to work still.

What could lead to the 'Common Language Runtime detected an invalid program" error when executing the "Search Box" web part's code ? I believe if we can fix that, the 'Search Box' will reappear as magically as it disappeared after the October CU's.

Any ideas ?

December 12th, 2013 11:23am

I've opened a support case with Microsoft on this issue. I'll post updates to my post (http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/12/10/sharepoint-foundation-2013-broken-search-experience.aspx) but also try to post them here.
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December 12th, 2013 6:08pm

Yes Theantioch, you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, it's just not possible in all situations to have proper testing environments, especially in small companies just like the one where I'm trying to fix this thing.

I've found that my server with the missing search box does not seem to have the March SharePoint Foundation PU installed (KB2768000). This must have been missed because that is exactly the time when this server was set up. Microsoft gives strict warnings that this PU is a prerequisite for all subsequent CUs.

So, it appears in my case that the April, June, August and October CUs were all installed without the March PU. Ouch! This sounds like it could be the source of my issue.

OK. Now my question is, can I just apply the March PU now? Possibly then have to reinstall the April-October CU? Or would this just make a bigger mess?

Any suggestions?




Completely understand, sorry if that sounded like I was chastising you for Microsoft's broken patch process. At the end of the day, these are being distributed via windows update which for almost every other product means that there vetted fairly well before being released, SharePoint does not seem to be operated the same way. As farm as the march PU goes, I had that installed in my environment too and I had the same issue, while you should still install it (Microsoft considers this "base" SharePoint 2013) I doubt it will fix the issue for you.
December 12th, 2013 7:54pm

No solution as of yet. But there are others out there who are experiencing the same issue. Apparently it is caused by a bug in the October CU that is affecting non English versions of Foundation 2013.

http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/12/10/sharepoint-foundation-2013-broken-search-experience.aspx

Teaches me a a lesson I guess ... DON'T EVER INSTALL Microsoft patches for a few months after their initial release. Wait to see what problems they cause to others first.


This issue is also affecting the English verison of Foundation 2013, at least it is in my dev environment.
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December 12th, 2013 9:06pm

Thanks for the confirmation on that English installations are also impacted!

I managed to reproduce the issue and confirm it is caused by KB2850058. I hope Microsoft PSS can pick this up quickly. See here: http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/12/10/sharepoint-foundation-2013-broken-search-experience.aspx

Cheers

December 14th, 2013 9:30am

Holiday period is coming close now, where sysadmins can get more system downtime for maintenance work.

Is there any sign of Microsoft PSS picking this issue up and working on a solution within reasonable timeframe ?

I need to decide soon now whether I completely uninstall/reinstall my SharePoint Foundation 2013 followed by a full restore from the farm backup. (Obviously not updating to KB2850058 nor KB2837628)

I need to restore search functionality by 2014, management cannot be bothered how...

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December 18th, 2013 11:01am

No news is good news I hope. I've asked for an update and will let you know.
December 18th, 2013 4:25pm

They informed me that it's really busy. My guess is that there won't be a fix for this in the next few weeks.
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December 23rd, 2013 2:14pm

I just tried your log file link.  Unfortunately it expired.  Can you repost?  Maybe I can find the issue before support does.

Chris

December 26th, 2013 6:07am

A final word from the escalation engineer is that this will be fixed in the April 2014 Cumulative Update.

http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2013/12/10/sharepoint-foundation-2013-broken-search-experience.aspx

If you can't live without Search until that time you'll have to set up a new environment and avoid said hotfixes.

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February 5th, 2014 3:40pm

3 1/2 month update mark, Steven is still working with Microsoft towards a fix. Last we have heard from Microsoft is end of April, maybe, possibly. If your site is still broken DO NOT install SP1, this WILL NOT fix the issue and it will still break your search bar.
March 5th, 2014 12:33pm

This update for SharePoint Foundation 2013 should fix the issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760625

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March 20th, 2014 2:04pm

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