TFS 2013 error TF218017 when attempting to create new team project with SharePoint 2013 Integration

Question

Problem summary:

I have just built a new TFS 2013 environment for my organization. On my first attempt\test creating a new team project using Visual Studio 2013, I receive the following error at the final stage (Finish button): "TF218017: A SharePoint site could not be created for use as the team project portal. The following error ocured: Server was unable to process request. ---> The user does not exist or is not unique.---> The user does not exist or is not unique."

I have found several other posts with folks encountering this same error but the proposed solution seems to always be to change the authentication mode in SharePoint to classic which is not available in SharePoint 2013.

The error message implies that this is permissions related. However, it is a little baffling due the fact that when I created a new TFS Project collection using the TFS Admin console it created a new site collection in SharePoint with no issues. I don't understand how my permissions would allow me to create a site collection but not place sites under the site collection.

Here are some details about my setup:

TFS 2013 running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
SharePoint 2013 Foundation (separate server within same domain as TFS server)
TFS Service account is a Site collection admin on the SharePoint site collection
My AD account is a Site Collection admin on the SharePoint site Collection
TFS Service account is a Farm Admin in SharePoint
My AD account is a Farm Admin in SharePoint
The TFS2013 Server is also a Farm Admin in SharePoint
No problems were encountered during installation of TFS 2013
TFS Server is used solely for TFS - nothing else is hosted here.
TFS Extensions For SharePoint have been installed on all servers in the SharePoint 2013 Farm
TFS Server fully updated as of 1/17/2014
workstation fully updated as of 1/17/2014

Details on what I have attempted/researched so far:

Confirmed with my networking staff that there are no firewall\blocked ports issues between TFS Server and SharePoint Servers
For the time period in which I was trying to create the new team project there are no errors\warnings in the event viewer on my local machine, SharePoint servers, or the TFS Server
When running Fiddler on the TFS server while trying to create the new Team Project - I am seeing no traffic at all between the TFS server and the SharePoint server.
my workstation has no open connections to any of the servers in question when trying to create the Team project
Cleared cache on my workstation at: C:\Users\username(Team Explorer user name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\4.0\Cache and C:\Users\username(Team Explorer user name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\5.0\Cache
Verified nothing in cache on TFS Server at: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Team Foundation\Web Access\Cache_v12.0
Performed IIS reset on TFS Server
Re-start on TFS Server
Team Foundation Server Best Practices Analyzer (it says "SharePoint products is not installed", I'm suspecting this is because SharePoint is installed on another server)
Installed Visual Studio 2013 Update 1.

I apologize if this is in bad form but I have also posted this on the msdn forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/0758f52d-bf03-44e4-96aa-b60468395914/tf218017-cannot-create-sharepoint-2013-site-from-tfs-2013?forum=tfsgeneral

I am reaching the bounds of my skill set on this one. Any help\ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Update: Well, unfortunately I had to break down and call tech support from an un-named large tech company for assistance on this. Some changes were made to our SharePoint environment in the process which coincided with the SharePoint farm "going down". I am not sure if the problem on the farm was a coincidence or related to my changes but the end result is that my SharePoint people are now skeptical of my TFS integration etc... so I was forced to do a default install of SharePoint on the TFS box. I will leave this post up for others with similar issues to discuss unless that is in bad form. Thanks to all who tried to help with this.

Ryan Riehle Ryan Riehle · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-02T00:29:37

Here are some additional items I would check:

Make sure you start VS 2013 elevated (Right-click when opening and choose 'Run As Administrator') when creating a team project.
If possible, see what happens if you try from a different computer or the server itself using Team Explorer.
Ensure that the user that you are attempting to create the team project with has enough permissions in SharePoint (you can make the account a site collection admin on the site collection in question).
The user should be a TFS Server Administrator or Team Project Collection Administrator.
Make sure that user account has Content Manager rights in the related Reporting Services folder as well, just in case.
Go to the your SharePoint site collection and attempt to create a site in it manually as the account that you are trying to create the Team Project with; when you perform this, make sure you create it with one of the team site templates that TFS installed (like the Agile or CMMI); If you encounter errors this way it may help you narrow down the problem.
Don't forget to review the event logs on the machines involved.

TFS 2013 error TF218017 when attempting to create new team project with SharePoint 2013 Integration

3 Answers