'We hit a snag' Mysite error - SharePoint 2013

Before I hit the actual scenario, let me share some existing documentation on the same:

1.   Clicking on a followed site returns "We hit a snag" in a publisher-consumer scenario: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2831053/EN-US

2.   "We’ve hit a snag" error message when a user clicks the Followed Sites or Followed Documents button in a consuming SharePoint Server 2013 farm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2826001

Note:

If you find a different solution, please report it as a comment to this post. Be sure to double-verify it: undo your solution and verify that the problem comes back, then redo it and verify that the problem goes away.

Problem description:

I came across this issue with respect to Mysites when I clicked on the section “Sites I’m following”, following the error message:

Error message:

"We hit a snag. This link doesn't work anymore, likely because the item was moved or deleted. You might have luck searching for it and following it in its new location."

Troubleshooting done:

1.   Recycled the app pool but that didn’t solve the issue.

2.   Tested the link by directly opening in browser but that also didn’t solve the issue

3.   Executed IISRESET – resolved the issue temporarily but reoccurred again after some time.

4.   Tried changing the app pool account of Mysites with the Farm account – Success! But this is not a solution for me!

What’s the bottom line? – With the help of 4^th troubleshooting step, it’s very clear that Mysites app pool account doesn’t have sufficient permissions.

I have already cross checked that this account (i.e. Mysites apppool account) has sufficient permissions from the SharePoint side but I wasn’t sure about the SQL side.

Finally I got it!

Resolution:

1.   Open the SQL Server management studio

2.   Security -> Logins

3.   You will see the complete list of accounts

4.   Right click on the mysite app pool account -> Properties

5.   Go to User Mapping directly

6.   Click on the specific database where the problem is and database role membership will get highlighted

7.   Select the checkbox ‘SPDataAccess’ and click OK

8.   That’s it – You are done! (FYI – it doesn’t required IISRESET)

Please check the results and let me know in case of any queries. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Product Applies To:

o   SharePoint 2013

Reference:

Account permissions and security settings in SharePoint 2013