Timer job keep on stopping, SharePoint Designer Cannot perform this operation. The file is no longer checked out or has been deleted.

Hi All,

Many times SharePoint start behaving weirdly due to different aspects of SharePoint as follows:

1.       Timer job keep on stopping every few minutes.

2.       SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2013 gives error “Cannot perform this operation. The file is no longer checked out or has been deleted.”

3.       SharePoint Search Service application gives error.

Why SharePoint Configuration cache for important for SharePoint?
The SharePoint Configuration cache exists on EACH SharePoint server irrespective of SharePoint such as Application server, Web server or Search server. The cache exist on each server.

It basically, the SharePoint Configuration cache is exits on C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\



Please note ProgramData is hidden folder and you need to enable the folder view.  The cache folder has many XML files and a single cache.ini file. The XML file are fundamentally farm objects and they come from SharePoint configuration database in the Objects table within SQL Server.

For an instance, XML file  8cc b296-daa7-fdbd-00fc-0b5adf69b794.xml within the cache folder is search job and has mapping in SharePoint Configuration database. The primary file is the cache.ini and MUST exist on each server. Furthermore, it must have a number value within it. It could be 1 or higher.    At times, while upgrading a SharePoint patch you encounter a Concurrency Update exceptions and here the issue happens. Trevor has explained in detail about it beautifully.   

Fix:

1.       Use the Codeplex solution SPCacheCleaner

2.       Or follow the below steps on each SharePoint server.  

a.       STOP the timer service
Run >> Services.msc >> SharePoint Timer Service >> Stop

b.       Navigate to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\<GUID>

c.       Delete all the XML files within this directory.
NOTE: Delete ONLY THE XML FILES.  And NOT the Cache.ini file.

d.      Open the cache.ini file and reset the value to 1.

e.      Save and close the file.

f.        Restart the SharePoint time service for all SharePoint Servers.

3.       Clear SharePoint Designer

Error: Cannot perform this operation. The file is no longer checked out or has been deleted
Problem: SharePoint Designer is out of sync. And we need to rebuild the cache.

FIX:

a.       Navigate to the following folders:
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache and
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache

b.      Delete the all the files

References:

1.       Trevor Seward blog

2.       Codeplex to clean the SharePoint configuration file

3.       Clear cache from Search Server

4.       Clear SharePoint Designer