How to create/recreate default SharePoint groups for a site
After a query on the internet, it seems that it is not so easy to find this information, unless you receive an error like: "The groups required to manage users for your site are missing" (this was observed in the SharePoint Online - the version on the servers is 2010, moving to 2013 now – when trying to share the site with external users). If you will look for the error, you will find the best way of doing it - using the direct URL: <siteURL>/_layouts/permsetup.aspx (in the KB article: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2632494 - Error when you invite external users to your site: "The groups required to manage users for your site are missing" ).
Some other solutions can be used too:
Going to a created group, then in Settings you can choose the Make
Default Group (I am not sure you can create a default Visitors group, but the Members
seems to work)For the on premises (not online), the CreateDefaultAssociatedGroups method of the SPWebobject can be used to recreate them
- check MSDN for details: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spweb.createdefaultassociatedgroups.aspx - SPWeb.CreateDefaultAssociatedGroupsmethod
- or how to use it with STSADM: https://blog.falchionconsulting.com/index.php/2009/04/creating-default-site-groups-after-creating-site-collections-using-stsadm/ - Creating Default Site Groups After Creating Site Collections Using STSADM
The above recommendations can be used for: SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013 (Foundation or Server, I did not test in 2013)
Comments
Anonymous
December 11, 2013
I don't understand the purpose of "making a group THE default group for this site". If one can create new groups and add existing groups what does making a group the default add, provide or benifit? Can more than one group be the "default group"? How do you determine which is the current "default group"?Anonymous
December 13, 2013
There's more than one default group, we are speaking about Owners/Members/Visitors, and as mentioned in the support article from Microsoft, if you go to https://<yourdomain>.sharepoint.com/_layouts/permsetup.aspx, you can add/change/check what are the current default groups. I cannot tell what is the purpose (I can try and guess), I am just showing how it works.Anonymous
January 09, 2014
RE: SGNeed for default groups is driven by the "Share this Site" feature. As stated in the article, (link http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/share-a-site-with-external-users-HA102476183.aspx) The feature is very useful in providing a simple/accessible feature for end-users to share/manage user permissions for a site they are owner of, without having to drill-down into the Site Settings/ Users And Groups menu. If defaults groups are deleted the feature doesn't work in 2010. In 2013 it seems you can "Show Options" and drop-down to pick custom groups, but it still defaults to "Members" group so if that group is missing things aren't as clean.Anonymous
March 18, 2014
The comment has been removedAnonymous
March 19, 2014
And you are getting the same error message even when you have all of the default groups set?Anonymous
June 04, 2015
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 01, 2015
Anatol N - thank you thank you!!!!! For months, probably years, I've tried to learn how to find what permissions group is set as the default for any given site. I knew how to change and manage permissions groups, but never how to find simply what is the default group. This little magic thing of _layouts/permsetup.aspx solved that for me. My day is complete! :)Anonymous
November 07, 2015
This sharing site with 'Share' and sharing items with 'Shared With' is confusing. Microsoft should have done better job in clarifying this for users ..Anonymous
December 15, 2015
@aaron: If you did open a SharePoint group and not a security group from AD, then you should have the settings.
(sory for the veery late reply)