Sharepoint Unexpected Error Page

Have you ever been programming in SharePoint and get the most wondrous and detailed error page:

An unexpected error has occurred.

I swear that I used to get that error everyday. Then I would have to try to debug what was causing the error. About a year ago I had found a way to turn this page off and get the actual error page with all the exception information (i.e. Error message, stack trace, source, etc.). Unfortunately I didn't blog about it and had to go looking for the solution again when I moved to a new server that didn't have the solution in place. For my notes and yours if you need it, here's the solution:

1. Open to the web.config file from the virtual directory containing your SharePoint application.


2. Change the line <SafeMode MaxControls="50" CallStack="false" /> in the element to: <SafeMode MaxControls="50" CallStack="true" />


3. Save and close the web.config file.

You must also ensure that the <customErrors > element is configured properly in the web.config file. Disable the <customErrors> element by setting the mode attribute to "Off":

<customErrors mode="Off" />


Originally found on the page: http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/17518/1954?pf=true