Background: We have a branding feature activated on all the site collection we create in the environment. However, when browsing the sub-site it was opening with the default look and feel of the SharePoint 2007 site.
Troubleshooting:
Tried to open the master page gallery, but only default.master page was showing.
Checked to open the Changesitematerpage.apsx page, however, got the above error message.
Checked feature Office SharePoint Server Publishing on the sub-site level and it was deactivated.
Checked feature Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure on the site collection level and it was also deactivated.
Resolution:
Activate the Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature from the site collection level features list and Office SharePoint Server Publishing feature from the sub-site level features list.
The try to access the site: http://webapplication/sites/parentsite/sub-site/_layouts/changesitemasterpage.aspx.
Select the appropriate master or branding page from the list.
Click ok, and try to browse the site. It should be having the same template as of the parent site.
You would also have the option to deactivate the both of the features from the site collection and site levels.
Applies To: SharePoint Server 2007, WSS 3.0
