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SharePoint 2013 Basic Search Center Navigation Settings Breaks in June 2013 CU

24 Jul 2013 | SharePoint 2013

In the June 2013 Cumulative Update for SharePoint 2013, if you modify the navigation settings of a Basic Search Center (/_layouts/15/AreaNavigationSettings.aspx), the OK button generates the following error:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.   
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.CodeBehind.AreaNavigationSettingsPage.OKButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)    
 at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

Getting Error Message for Exception System.Web.HttpUnhandledException (0x80004005): Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.    
 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Internal.CodeBehind.AreaNavigationSettingsPage.OKButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)    
 at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest()    
 at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)    
 at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()    
 at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

To work around this, on the Navigation Settings page, you can create a node under “Structural Navigation: Editing and Sorting”. By placing a node underneath the Global or Current Navigation nodes, the error is bypassed.

Trevor Seward is a Microsoft Office Apps and Services MVP who specializes in SharePoint Server administration, hybrid scenarios, and SharePoint Online. He has been working with SharePoint for 16 years from SharePoint 2003 on up, managing environments with terabytes of content for 150,000+ user organizations. Trevor is an author of Deploying SharePoint 2016 and Deploying SharePoint 2019. You can find him on Twitter and in /r/sharepoint.