SOLVED: Can’t Delete Sharepoint 2010 Foundation Site

If want to remove a tab from a Sharepoint 2010 Foundation site and you:

• go to the tab/site in question,
• click SITE ACTIONS,
• SITE SETTINGS,
• DELETE THIS SITE and click the DELETE button

you may see the the following useless error:

Error
Specified method is not supported.
Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.
Correlation ID: febf0e37-5780-47fa-8cdf-451120ca3d30
Date and Time: 3/12/2012 10:47:31 AM

Apparently this is a known issue:

• with Service Pack1 and may be corrected by installing a June 2010 “refresh”  which you can get HERE .
• can occur if UAC is enabled on the machine you are attempting the delete from
• can occur if you you not elevating (right click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR)  your Browser when attempting the delete
• can be resolved by running a Sharepoint Management Shell delete command

In my case the command line was the fast solution (as I did not have UAC enabled and elevating my IE9 did not help).

1. simply start the Sharepoint Management Shell on the server
2. type stsadm -o deleteweb -url http://RootSite/SubSite  
3. wait 10 seconds and have a nice day!

 Take note that there are several other useful commands to correct problems:

 stsadm -o deletesite -url http://server_name/sites/site_name

 stsadm -o databaserepair -url http://server_name/site_name -databasename WSS_Content_<your_content_database>

 I found the following sites to be quite helpful:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262877(v=office.12).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261873(v=office.12).aspx

http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=0cd1a63d%2D183c%2D4fc2%2D8320%2Dba5369008acb&ID=291

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010setup/thread/8fe02606-d282-4e61-ab4a-c53d222862e5