Forum Discussion

_Bonez's avatar
_Bonez
Copper Contributor
Jun 18, 2026

SharePoint Online - Issues Saving Site as Template and Activating .wsp Solutions

Hello everyone, Recently I have been experiencing issues when saving a SharePoint site as a template and activating .wsp files within the Solution Gallery. This appears to be a recent change, as the...
admin
SharePoint Online
Sites
pnthrzrule's avatar
pnthrzrule
Iron Contributor
Jun 22, 2026

Update: On June 19, I tried creating a site from a custom template that had been working just fine a few weeks back but got the error saying "problem applying template" On the same day, I allowed custom script on the site and then tried to recreate the template (using /_layouts/15/savetmpl.aspx) to see if that might fix it. Saving a site as a template failed by taking me to a page that said access denied.

Today, I tried saving a site as a template again and it worked. I then was able to create a new site based off the custom template. I am not sure what happened but I can tell you that all of my old custom templates are useless now. If you still have access to the source site you used to create the custom templates, you may want to try saving them as templates again and go from there.

Good luck everyone!

 

  • laceyk's avatar
    laceyk
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 23, 2026

    Hi, did you use the same /_layouts/15/savetmpl.aspx to do this and it worked? I have been researching the issue and it seems they are turning this off as they no longer want sub sites, and instead want everything to be a site collection. The PNP Site provisioning they offer is exactly that, no sub site just site collection. It is frustrating as it has literally undone all the work I have been doing for the last 2 years with a team in work. 

     

    I have tried resaving the templates but get an access denied message. 

    • pnthrzrule's avatar
      pnthrzrule
      Iron Contributor
      Jun 23, 2026

      yes i used the savetmpl.aspx - make sure that you go to the SP admin center and allow scripting for the top level site before you save as template. Maybe even give it an hour or so after you turn on scripting to make sure it activates. Good luck!

      • laceyk's avatar
        laceyk
        Brass Contributor
        Jun 23, 2026

        Yes that worked!! thank you so much. I will keep an eye on this thread to see what Microsoft responded back to those tickets logged but for now I can do this solution. 

    • jm06400's avatar
      jm06400
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 23, 2026

      I use my admin account, as a global 365 administrator. Prior to start using the suffix, I went to the SharePoint admin center, located the Site Collection. From the Settings tab, I enabled/allowed the Custom Scripts to run. Then navigated to the subsite I wanted to make a template of, and mended the url with the suffix /_layouts/15/savetmpl.aspx. 

      https://*****.sharepoint.com/sites/SiteCollection/SubSite_Template/_layouts/15/savetmpl.aspx

    • PDB's avatar
      PDB
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 23, 2026

      This wouldnt work for Project Online whuch requires subsites in the PWA Site Collection