You receive a "General error occurred" error message when you create a portal site after you reinstall SharePoint Portal Server 2003

When you try to create a portal site after you reinstall SharePoint Portal Server on the server, you may receive the following error message:

This behavior may occur if both the following conditions are true:

• You remove and then reinstall SharePoint Portal Server, Windows SharePoint Services, and Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) on the server.
• You use the same name as a portal site that was previously created on the server to name the portal site.

When you remove SharePoint Portal Server, the following SQL Server databases that are associated with SharePoint Portal Server are detached from the configuration database, but they are not deleted from the server:

• SiteName _PROF
• SiteName _SITE)
• SiteName _SERV

In this situation, when you create a portal site that uses the same name as a portal site that was previously created on the server, SharePoint Portal Server does not check whether database files for that portal site already exist on the server. As a result, your computer behaves as the "Symptoms" section earlier in this article describes.

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods, as appropriate to your situation.

Method 1: Use a Unique Name for the Portal Site

Use a unique name for the portal site, where the first six characters in the name do not match the first six characters in the name of any other portal site that was previously created on the server.

Method 2: Delete the SQL Server Databases That Are Associated with SharePoint Portal Server

Use this method if you want to name the portal site with the same name as a portal site that was previously created on the server. To delete the SQL Server database and related files that are associated with SharePoint Portal Server:

1. Start Windows Explorer.
2. Locate the following folder, where Drive is the drive letter where MSDE is installed:
   Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$SHAREPOINT
3. On the File menu, click Delete.
4. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For more information about how to deploy, configure, and administer SharePoint Portal Server, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.

For more information about SharePoint Portal Server, visit the following Microsoft Web site: