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SharePoint Designer 2010 data sources that consume ListData.svc fail to generate a web part on sites that use NTLM authentication

Article ID: 2513432 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

SharePoint Foundation 2010 has introduced a new REST interface to query SharePoint list data. This new interface can be consumed by SharePoint Designer.

Please refer to these links for more details.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff521587.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/add-a-server-side-script-as-a-data-source-HA010355749.aspx

If Windows authentication is configured and Kerberos is not then any DataFormWebParts that try to consume the data source will generate the following error message in SharePoint Designer:

Unable to display this Web Part. To troubleshoot the problem, open this Web page in a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation-compatible HTML editor such as Microsoft SharePoint Designer. If the problem persists, contact your Web server administrator.

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Cause

This is caused by double hop issues as outlined by in this article:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/besidethepoint/archive/2010/05/09/double-hop-authentication-why-ntlm-fails-and-kerberos-works.aspx

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Resolution

Configure the web application to use Kerberos as per this article on any server that ListData.svc is going to be used from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee806870.aspx

Once this has been implemented the Windows authentication dialog box in the REST data source will function as intended.

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More Information

Repro Steps
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1. Create a custom list in SharePoint site - List1, the web application of the site uses Windows Authentication - NTLM.
2. Try to browse the list using REST Service - http://Site1/_vti_bin/listdata.svc/List1, this ensures REST Service listdata.svc works.
3. Open site in SharePoint Designer 2010.
4. Create a datasource and select the REST Service Connection from the menu
5. In the "Enter the URL to a server-side script", enter the REST Service Connection url, for example, http://Site1/_vti_bin/listdata.svc/List1.
6. Under Login Tab, select "Use Windows authentication"
7. In SPD create a sample Web Part Page.
8. Under Insert Menu, click Data View and select the newly created DataSource. In the Data Source Details panel at the right side, we will recieve the error
"The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get data from the data source....."
9. Changed the authentication provider of the web application to Windows Authentication - Negotiate (Kerberos) and try to insert the DataSource again, it will succeed.