There is a common error in SharePoint 2010: On almost every (web frontend) server you can find this error in the Windows Event Log “Application”:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: SharePoint Foundation
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7043
Computer: SERVERNAME
Description: Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed: Could not load type ‘Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TaxonomyPicker’ from assembly ‘Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c’.
The problem is described in many blogs and sites, e.g.:
- http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/32d06697-ab7f-447e-9d0e-b6d93bee3fda
- http://www.sharepointdan.com/2010/05/19/taxonomypicker-ascx-bug-sp2010-rtm/
- http://blogs.technet.com/b/praveenh/archive/2010/12/16/sharepoint-2010-gt-gt-taxonomy-picker-ascx-failed-error.aspx
To solve the problem there’s no other way than renaming the “TaxonomyPicker.ascx” file.
On a single-server farm it’s not that problem but in a huge farm with about 100 servers … ?
I’ve created simple SharePoint 2010 solution that will do the job for you.
The solution deploys a SharePoint Timer Job Definition and the farm feature event receiver creates two timer jobs for every web application on the system. The first timer job is a “one-time” job, the other one is a “daily” job. Each job checks the SharePoint hive on the local disk of every server and renames the “TaxonomyPicker.ascx” file to “TaxonomyPicker.ascx.disabled”, if the file is present. If the file “TaxonomyPicker.ascx” not present or already renamed it does nothing.
the “one-time” job runs some seconds after the feature activation and will delete itself after running. The “daily” job executes every day between 1am and 2am.
You can download this code at Codeplex. Please feel free to modify it, but please send me your improvements or request “edit” permissions on codeplex. – I’m sure there are possible improvements. It’s a “quick dev project”.
http://spdisabletaxpicker.codeplex.com/
When you disable the farm feature the file “TaxonomyPicker.ascx.disabled” is renamed back to “TaxonomyPicker.ascx”!
Be sure you test the feature in a dev system before you use it in a live system!!!! I only provide the source code he. Please compile it by yourself und use the solution as you want.