SharePoint 2010 error not found in logs, how to configure logging?

Question

We have a SharePoint 2010 feature that works fine on my development machine, but won't activate on the staging system. It's SiteCollection scoped, the containing solution was successfully deployed on one WebApplication.

When we try to activate the feature, we get an error message with a Correlation ID. But we can't find this ID or the name of the feature in the SharePoint Logs nor in the Windows Event Log.

Maybe logging wasn't configured right or there is an error with ULS on the machine, but we haven't changed the SharePoint Logging options from the state they were after installation. Where can I find exception / error messages that happen in ULS? How must Logging be configured to allow the failed feature activation to be logged?

Answer 1

Under SharePoint 2010, go to Central Administration. There is a Monitoring link. Click there and under reporting is a Configure Diagnostic logging link. If you set the Least Critical event to Trace and Least Critical Event items to verbose, you should get more information in the SharePoint log files. Make sure you switch back though after diagnosing because the process is chatty and can result in extra IO and large files.

Out of the box, I don't believe logging is set. You can also verify the location of the log files to make sure they are not on setup elsewhere on this page.

More information at TechNet

Answer 2

Download the ULS Viewer tool from here: link text and filter by the correlation ID.