Fixing a 404 Error When You Know the SharePoint Site Is There

This is a quick one, but I’ve done it enough times, I figured I should write it up. If you’ve landed here because of searching, I hope I’m making your day go better.

Have you ever navigated to a SharePoint site you’ve been to hundreds of times and gotten the dreaded 404 NOT FOUND error? There’s nothing else in the browser window, just that unhelpful message.

There are two probable things which could have happened:

1. The site itself was deleted. If this is the case, it should be available to restore from the Deleted sites recycle bin in the SharePoint Admin Center.
2. But before you go talk to your SharePoint Admin (sometimes that’s harder than this step), try the steps below. It may be that the home page of your site has been deleted instead.

Let’s say the site you’re trying to visit is at https://mytenantname.sharepoint.com/sites/FabSite, and you’re getting the 404 error on whatever page in that site you’re trying to visit. Also, let’s assume you’re a Site Owner or Site Member.

Tack this on the end of the URL to the site: /_layouts/viewlsts.aspx. That’s a link to the Site Contents application page in the site.

To be very clear, you’d make the URL https://mytenantname.sharepoint.com/sites/FabSite + /_layouts/viewlsts.aspx = https://mytenantname.sharepoint.com/sites/FabSite/_layouts/viewlsts.aspx

If there’s any other “stuff” after the site name part of the URL, you’d replace that with /_layouts/viewlsts.aspx.

If that gets you to the Site Contents page, you’re almost back to normal. If not, go find that SharePoint Admin or call the Help Desk or whatever.

On the Site Contents page, scroll down to the bottom and see if the Site Pages library exists. If not, go to Option 1 below. If the Site Pages library is there, then go into it and see if the home page if the site is still there. It used to always be Home.aspx, but unfortunately, Microsoft creates a new home page whenever you apply a template. (See: SharePoint Team Site Home Pages Get New Names – For Some Reason) Whether you’re sure which page is the home page or not, go to Option 2.

Option 1: Go into the Recycle Bin and look for the Site Pages library. Odds are, it’s at or near the top of the list of deleted objects. Select it and restore it.

Option 2: Go into the Recycle Bin and look for an aspx page which has a home-page-like name. Odds are, it’s at or near the top of the list of deleted objects. Select it and restore it.

Navigate back to the Home link in your site and it’s probably fine now. If not, off to get help. But you may have just repaired things yourself!