SharePoint 2010 State Service

If you have skipped the Farm Configuration Wizard when you installed SharePoint 2010 you might come across this error trying to publish a page or stating a workflow. “The form cannot be rendered. This may be due to a misconfiguration of the Microsoft SharePoint Server State Service. For more information, contact your server administrator”. The State Service is a shared service that is used by some Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 components to store temporary data.

The State Service is automatically configured as part of the Basic SharePoint Server 2010 installation.

Advanced installation of SharePoint Server 2010 requires separate configuration of the State Service. You can configure the State Service after installation of SharePoint Server 2010 by using one of the following tools:
– Farm Configuration Wizard
– Windows PowerShell

Configure the State Service using the Farm Configuration Wizard

If the State Service check box is unavailable, it has already been configured. After initial configuration, you can only configure the State Service by using Windows PowerShell.

On the Central Administration Web site, on the left navigation at the bottom, click Configuration Wizards.

On the Configuration Wizards page, click Launch the Farm Configuration Wizard.

On the first page of the Farm Configuration Wizard, click Start the Wizard.

On the services configuration page, in the Services section, select the State Service check box (and/or any other services you might be interested) and click Next.

If you set-up a top-level site already click on Skip button if not go ahead and create it now by clicking OK.

On the final page of the Farm Configuration Wizard, review your freshly installed services and click Finish.

Configure the State Service using Windows PowerShell

See if you meet the minimum requirements for PowerShell

On the Start menu, click All Programs >> Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products >> SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

To create a service application, type the following command:

$serviceApp = New-SPStateServiceApplication -Name "State Service"

Create a State Service database and associate it with a service application, by typing:

New-SPStateServiceDatabase -Name "StateServiceDatabase" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp

Create a State Service Application Proxy and associate it with the service application by typing:

New-SPStateServiceApplicationProxy -Name "State Service" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp -DefaultProxyGroup

After set-up make sure you verify that your Web Application is associated with the new State Service Service Application by going to Central Administration >> Service Application Associations. Click on your Web Application and a window will pop-up with all associated services. State Services should be checked.