Customization Node MIA
Some days you just have to scratch your head. Today one of my colleagues was getting set to make some customization changes to a CRM dev environment. She logged in as the system admin user,
went to the Settings area, but lo-and-behold, the Customization node was missing. So she asked for help.
Easy, I thought; just export the Site Map, add the Customization line back in, and them import the file back in. But not so easy, it turns out, because you can’t get to the Export Customizations or the Import Customizations without first going to the Customizations node. Quite a pickle.
Luckily, each of these screens can be called by a URL:
* note – replace crmserver/organizationname with your CRM server name and Organization name.
So I browsed to the Export Customizations screen and exported the Site Map entity. Editing the xml file, I located the Settings area of the document and pasted in the missing line:
<SubArea Id="nav_syscust" ResourceId="Homepage_SystemCustomization" Icon="/_imgs/area/18_syscust.gif" Url="/tools/systemcustomization/systemcustomization.aspx" Client="All" />
Once done, I saved the XML and browsed to the Import Customizations screen, and imported the file. Site Map changes are immediate, so I didn’t need to publish – only needed to reload CRM in a new browser window, and the Customization node was back!
How it went missing remains a mystery.
Make A Comment: ( 3 so far )
3 Responses to “Customization Node MIA”
Tanya
September 30th, 2009
I’m just posting this to let you know that people do actually ready your blog posts. Sometimes.. If they look interesting… ok, I guess it’s rare. 
Matt
October 19th, 2009
Hi Dave, thanks for this one. Your article helped me fix this for a client who upgraded from CRM 3.0 to CRM 4.0, and this ‘bug’ only seems to affect upgraded sitemaps.
Neil Benson
November 9th, 2009
I had to use the above (not being a techie) and it was super easy to do! Thanks. I didn’t even have to involve our IT dept