Cannot save site as template (An Unknown Error Has Occurred) even with the correct permissions/settings?

Question

Hi everyone,
We're currently experiencing some issues saving a site as an template.
This is the error we get in the event viewer:
Exception information: 
    Exception type: InvalidOperationException 
    Exception message: Error saving solution to temporary file
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSolutionExporter.ExportWebAsSolution()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSolutionExporter.ExportWebToGallery(SPWeb web, String solutionFileName, String title, String description, ExportMode exportMode, Boolean includeContent, String workflowTemplateName, String destinationListUrl, Action`1
solutionPostProcessor, Boolean activateSolution)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.SaveAsTemplatePage.BtnSaveAsTemplate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
   at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
I've looked everywhere for this error and all the sites point to a permission issue; I've check that already: it isn't. We've tried creating this template via PowerShell, C# command line application, SharePoint Designer and the savetmpl.aspx page at the
site itself: no result; Yes, it is a publishing site, but that didn't stop us. We've created a site template from a different site and the publishing feature was also enabled there.
Later this site really helped me into digging deeper into the logs: http://www.sharepointblogs.be/blogs/vandest/archive/2014/05/23/sharepoint-how-to-troubleshoot-issues-with-save-as-template.aspx
The annoying part is: the folder that is being created by the web application pool user when saving the site as a template is totally empty!
How can this be? Did I miss something? Could someone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advanced!
With kind regards,
M. Hekman

Answer 1

Hi  ,
According to your description, my understanding is that you encountered the error “Error saving solution to temporary file”  when you tried to save a publishing site as a template.
For your issue, please make sure you have set the SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled property of your publishing site to true. You can refer to the PowerShell script as below:
# Get a reference to the target site
$web = Get-SPWeb http://Intranet.SWRanger.com/Publishing
# Update the property bage value and set it to the string value "true"
$web.AllProperties["SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled"] = "true"
# Commit the property change to server
$web.Update()
Reference:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/how24/archive/2013/06/13/save-publishing-site-as-a-template.aspx
Best Regards,
Eric
Eric Tao
TechNet Community Support