What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature?

Have you installed the MOSS 2007 beta yet? If so, taken any time to understand what Features are?

If not, check out Ted Pattison's "What Are Features?" post... his first sentence nails it: "Features are awesome." I've got a few more links on features on my WCM linkfest: http://andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/MossWcmResources.aspx#Features

Let's say you've poked under the hood to see all the Features you get when you install MOSS. Where will you find them? In the 12 hive of course: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATES\FEATURES.

One thing to note is that Features aren't a MOSS-only thing... they are an inherit addition to the foundation of SharePoint: WSS. I'm guessing most people out there have installed the MOSS 2007 beta bits and not played with the WSS v3 beta bits without MOSS. So, if you've installed MOSS 2007, how do you know which Features are included with the free part of SharePoint (WSS) and which ones are added by MOSS (see Figure 1 below)? Some are easy to spot as MOSS only Features.. for example, the ExcelServer* Features are obviously part of Excel Services, a component to MOSS... the MySite* Features deal with My Sites, another MOSS-only thing... OSearch* Features are for the advanced search functionality in MOSS... and finally the Publishing* Features deal with Publishing Sites (aka: Web Content Management). But what about all the others?

Figure 1 (click for larger image)

Instead of having to always compare my MOSS Beta 2 Technical Refresh virtual machine & my WSS v3 Beta 2 Technical Refresh virtual machine, I decided to document them for my own reference and share them here, on my blog, for anyone else to use as a reference.

Windows SharePoint Services v3 Features:

33 Features in WSS v3

AdminLinks
AnnouncementsList
BasicWebParts
ContactsList
ContentLightup
ContentTypeSettings
ctypes
CustomList
DataSourceLibrary
DiscussionsList

DocumentLibrary
EventsList
fields
GanttTasksList
GridList
IssuesList
IssueTrackingWorkflow
LinksList
MobilityRedirect
NoCodeWorkflowLibrary
PictureLibrary

SiteSettings
SPSearchFeature
SurveysList
TasksList
TeamCollab
UpgradeLinks
WebPageLibrary
WikiWelcome
WorkflowHistoryList
WorkflowProcessList
XmlFormLibrary

Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007 Features:

107 Features Added in MOSS 2007*

AddDashboard
Analytics
AnalyticsLinks
BaseSite
BaseSiteStapling
BaseWeb
BaseWebApplication
BDCAdminUILinks
BDR
BizAppsCTypes
BizAppsFields
BizAppsListTemplates
BizAppsSiteTemplates
BulkWorkflow
BulkWorkflowTimerJob
DataConnectionLibrary
DataConnectionLibraryStapling
DeploymentLinks
DMContentTypeSettings
EawfSite
EawfWeb
EnhancedHtmlEditing
ExcelServer
ExcelServerSite
ExcelServerWebApplication
ExpirationWorkflow
FeaturePushdown
GlobalWebParts
GradualUpgrade
Hold
ipfsAdminLinks
IPFSAdminWeb
IPFSDocumentConversion
IPFSSiteFeatures
IPFSWebFeatures
LegacyDocumentLibrary

ListTargeting
LocalSiteDirectoryControl
LocalSiteDirectoryMetaData
LocalSiteDirectorySettingsLink
MasterSiteDirectoryControl
MigrationLinks
MySite
MySiteBlog
MySiteCleanup
MySiteHost
MySiteLayouts
MySiteNavigation
MySiteQuickLaunch
Navigation
NavigationProperties
OffWFCommon
OSearchBasicFeature
OSearchCentralAdminLinks
OSearchEnhancedFeature
OSearchPortalAdminLinks
OSearchSRPAdminLinks
OsrvLinks
OsrvTasks
OssNavigation
OSSSearchSearchCenterUrlFeature
OSSSearchSearchCenterUrlSiteFeature
PageConverters
PortalLayouts
PremiumRootSite
PremiumRootSiteStapling
PremiumSite
PremiumSiteStapling
PremiumWeb
PremiumWebApplication
ProfileSynch
Publishing

PublishingLayouts
PublishingPrerequisites
PublishingResources
PublishingSite
PublishingStapling
PublishingWeb
RecordsManagement
RedirectPageContentTypeBinding
RelatedLinksScopeSettingsLink
ReportCenterCreation
ReportCenterSampleData
Reporting
ReportListTemplate
ReviewWorkflows
SearchAndProcess
SearchWebParts
SharedServices
SignaturesWorkflow
SitesList
SkuUpgradeLinks
SlideLibrary
SlideLibraryActivation
SpellChecking
SPSDisco
SpsSsoLinks
SRPProfileAdmin
StapledWorkflows
TranslationWorkflow
TransMgmtFunc
TransMgmtLib
UpgradeOnlyFile
UserMigrator
ViewFormPagesLockDown
WebPartAdderGroups

* Two additional features are installed when you upgrade from MOSS 2007 Beta 2 to MOSS Beta 2 Technical Refresh: PublishingB2TRHop2SiteFilesUpgrade & PublishingB2TRSiteFilesUpgrade. These two Features, as their names imply, are used to upgrade some of the publishing files from Beta 2 to Beta 2 Technical Refresh. This also explains why you may have experienced some problems with your existing Publishing sites created in Beta 2 after upgrading to Beta 2 Technical Refresh, as outlined in this post. Because they are upgrade Features, and not likely to be present in the RTM release of MOSS 2007, I am not including them in the count.

If you're in the Jacksonville, FL area, SharePoint Features will be the topic for our next JacksonvilleOfficeGeeks meeting next Thursday, October 26th. More info on the talk here: http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/Speaking.aspx#20061026

Technorati: moss, wss, features

posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:18 PM

Feedback

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/27/2007 2:25 AM Intekhab

Fabulous , Thanks for sahring

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 10/19/2006 5:11 AM MikeWalshHelsinki

Nice piece, Andrew.

See http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=867

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 10/19/2006 9:03 AM AC [MVP MCMS]

Mike - Thanks!

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/14/2006 3:44 PM Brad Covelle

Great Reference!! Thanks for taking the time to list them all.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/15/2006 3:29 AM David

Hi,
Currently we are using WSS V2, and we would like to migrate/upgrade to MOSS 2007. Do you know who to export the data to MOSS 2007?

David

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/15/2006 11:32 AM AC [MVP MCMS]

David - There is a whole section in the WSS v3 SDK on "Upgrading Windows SharePoint Services" that you should review.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 12/4/2006 3:05 AM

By followed in Microsoft deploymnet steps I Created one New SSP and web applications. SSP Created succesfully.but I am not able to view the SSP Admin page .

I got below message once the SSP created .
Shared Services provider successfully created

All shared services have been successfully created and configured!These services include

Business Data Catalog
office SharePoint Server Search
Excel Services
User Profile Application
Session State

To view the administration pages for this SSP,go to the <Share services administration site>.

I click the hyperlink which was mentioned with in <> bracket.And alos tried with newly Created SSP URL.But I got page not found error.
and I did n't get any services like BDC from the newly created SSp.
Please if any one know explain me immediately.

Regards,
Arulraja.S

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 3/21/2007 1:07 PM Colin

Is it possible to use only WSS on a Machine running MOSS? We have a dev machine for creating Sharepoint sites for clients who need MOSS, but we need to develop an internal WSS site (for price consideration) as well, will this require a Machine with no MOSS installation? For that matter, could the WSS site be published on a machine with MOSS installed without it being liable to the MOSS license?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 3/22/2007 8:35 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Colin-
Sure is... just make sure you only use WSS features and create the site using one of the non-MOSS templates.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 3/22/2007 11:08 AM Steve

I have upgrade to RTM and installed fresh Moss 2007 products in development. Many of the features are missing (ex: PremiumRootSite, IPFSDocumentConversion and PremiumRootSiteStapling). Where do they come from and can I get them from somewhere on the web?

BTW, took you class last fall and got Todd's published manual - good stuff!

Thanks,
Steve

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 3/22/2007 2:30 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Steve-
The list was from B2TR... looks like some were removed from RTM... I'll get the post updated. Thanks!

# Fatal Error: Could Not find feature PremiumRootSite 4/12/2007 10:04 AM Manish

Hi Andrew,

We are trying to migrate the content from source (KAR07) server to target (EDC91) server but are encountered with following errors.

I scanned both source (KAR 07) as well as destination (EDC APP91) servers for their features in “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES” file path and I found the same content in the entire common features which are present in both m/cs, while I also do find feature folders in Destination Server (EDC APP91) are less in number by four.

The four missing features in EDC91 (target App Server) are ASP NET Control, ASP NET Control1, Pfizer.EuCan.Test.Workflow.CustomAccess Request and Premium Root Site. Out of which first three features have been installed as per application requirements, but Premium Root Site is installed by default I suppose in B2TR version, and error is also pointing to missing Premium Root Site.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 5/2/2007 5:38 PM LT

Great stuff.

Thanks for sharing.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 5/29/2007 1:43 PM Arundhati

Do we need to install both WSS 3.0 & Office sharepoint 2007?? our's is a fresh installation?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 5/29/2007 5:22 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Arundhati-
The MOSS install automatically installs WSS v3 for you if it isn't already there.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 6/13/2007 6:28 AM Golf

i've moss 2007 now and i want to install wss 3.0 instead and remove moss 2007 , can i do this ?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 6/13/2007 8:21 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Golf-
Not sure... I'd be surprised if you can't uninstall MOSS. WSS v3 is installed by default when you install MOSS. I'd check the setup/admin newsgroup for this one.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 6/29/2007 4:28 PM Victor Shamanovsky

Just like Steve I am having problem with missing features:

Failed to find the XML file at location '12\Template\Features\PremiumRootSiteStapling\feature.xml'
Failed to find the XML file at location '12\Template\Features\IPFSDocumentConversion\feature.xml'

Any ideas?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 6/30/2007 3:08 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Victor-
And just like Steve... those Features were in the beta installs, but not in the RTM installs.

# WHERE WILL I GET THAT IDE AFTER INSTALLATION IN MOSS 2007 7/17/2007 4:14 AM bhaskar

after insttaltion of sdk i didnt get any ide in my start menu where the ide will be locate?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/17/2007 6:40 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Bhaskar-
Read the download page for the SDK's... it tells you where it installs it.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/20/2007 11:34 AM Andy

We upgraded from Beta to B2TR to RTM. If i click on workflows in site settings i get the Failed to find the XML file at location '12\Template\Features\PremiumRootSite\feature.xml' at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPXmlDocCache.GetGlobalXmlDocumentCore(String pathXml, Boolean bFeature)
error.

How can I modify or upgrade my MOSS to not require this feature any more? Or where can I get a copy of it from so that it will work again?

Thanks
Andy

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/20/2007 2:15 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Andy-
That's odd... I'd post that to the setup/admin SharePoint newsgroup.

# What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 8/30/2007 1:38 AM Sreenivas

Is there any difference between Moss sites and WSS sites?
i had installed 180 days trail version of MOSS, in that i am not getting the MOSS features. Suppose if i create a wepapplicaiton in my PC is it a MOSS site or WSS site.

Could you please tell me any difference between MOSS sites and WSS sites.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 8/30/2007 10:48 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Sreenivas-
No... everything is just a WSS site. MOSS simply adds more Features and capabilities that WSS doesn't include.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 9/1/2007 12:37 AM Greg B

Thanks Andrew

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 9/6/2007 12:25 PM Stan Moss

Andrew - In reference to your answer to the comment above about hosting WSS 3.0-Only sites on a box with MOSS installed...do you know how one might verify that no MOSS features are used on a site? Would it be as simple as looking at the Site Collection and Site Features and just seeing that all of the MOSS features are inactive? And how would the MySites link showing up in the upper right hand corner of the page affect the WSS-Only status of the site?

thx!

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 9/6/2007 11:12 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Stan-
Hard to say... you could walk though all the Features to see if a MOSS one is activated on the site collection or any sites within the collection, but that's not foolproof as custom code could be referencing a MOSS assembly. My sites aren't available in WSS sites... only MOSS.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 9/24/2007 7:47 AM Amarendra

Thanks a ton Andrew for this article!

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/29/2007 1:04 PM chris

hi andrew. Do u know which of these features is the 'information management policy feature'? The reason I'm asking is I want to try to activate it in stsadm tool since it is not firing up on our system (like when I setup an expiration policy). Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/29/2007 4:25 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Chris-
Dunno... have you searched for it?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 12/19/2007 1:21 AM Henry

Can Exchange 2007 and WSS 3.0 be used for populating lists as well as repositories with emails.??? or do you need MOSS2007

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/16/2008 5:14 PM Josh

I currently have a WSS 3.0 site up and running. Some of the features that are available in MOSS 2007 we want to use... what's going to happen to my current Site if I install MOSS on that server? Will I lose my current site? Are there any options for me?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/16/2008 8:54 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Josh-
Nothing at all. MOSS is additive in nature so installing it will have zero effect on existing sites unless you add Features to them.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/23/2008 6:56 AM Vikas Mehta

Thanks,Andrew.. for this huge collection for getting clear between WSS and moss

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 3/3/2008 9:37 PM KC

Hi Andrew,

I do not have the following 5 in the folder directory after I've installed MOSS Enterprise version.
- ipfsAdminLinks
- IPFSAdminWeb
- IPFSDocumentConversion
- IPFSSiteFeatures
- IPFSWebFeatures

May I know what's the problem? Thank you in advance

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 4/8/2008 5:31 AM Subodh Pathak

Great stuff!

Is their any help on developing various features. How to write elements.xml.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 4/8/2008 10:04 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Subodh-
Look at the WSS 3.0 SDK & Google, there are TONS of resources out there including blog posts and books.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 5/8/2008 9:40 AM Thilina

Hey guys i have WSS 3.0 installed. I need to get InfoPath form services. Is it available in WSS or do i have to buy and install MOSS 2007? Please Help!!

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 5/8/2008 2:09 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Thilina-
Forms Services a MOSS Enterprise only capability. Yes, you'd need both a server license and a CAL for each user that hits the server.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/31/2008 2:47 AM Mohammed

Hi Andrew,
Great Post.
Thanks for putting light on the diff. It might be really helpful to all.

Thanks
Mohammed

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/31/2008 8:11 AM Manfred Kramer

Hallo Andrew,
thanx so much for this very concise and clear overview of the features of WSS and MOSS! I still have one question left and I am hoping very much that you can help me (please, please, pretty please ;-)=) ...
so here goes: What is the maximum number of users that can be using a WSS-generated teamsite that is sitting on one box? (that can be online at the same time using ONLY WSS?) I have searched the net far and wide and for more than 3 days now, but I just can't seem to find an answer to that question...I know there are other factors involved too, like bandwidth and what else is running on that server, but let's just say WSS is the only thing that's running on that box (apart from the OS etc.)...Thanx in advance!
Yours respectfully,
Manfred Kramer

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 7/31/2008 9:24 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Manfred-
I know of no such limit.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 8/14/2008 8:55 AM Ash

I've been using WSS 2.0 and I am now evaluating WSS 3.0 and MOSS. Thanks for sharing the list of features. I also found out that there are 2 versions of MOSS - standard/enterprise when you install.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/6/2008 9:41 AM Howard

Does anyone know if MOSS offers permissions on list views?

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 11/6/2008 11:19 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Howard-
No, you can't secure list views.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/6/2009 12:28 AM sunil

thanks andrew

you have done excellent job........

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 1/14/2009 8:11 AM John

Thanks for posting this. I've spent ages trying to find a features such as "slide gallery", that don't appear in our WSS installation.

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 8/6/2009 3:39 PM John Lombardo

Now here's a silly question.

How do you completely uninstall a feature from wss 3.0?

I installed a feature (which had a minor bug), corrected and reinstalled the feature (with a new guid id). Now i have the same feature twice and can not uninstall either, only deactivate. Even if i uninstall my custom dll and delete the page from the layouts folder and delete the features and elements xmls, the next installation provides yet another instance of the same feature. Now none of them work due to multiple instances!

# re: What's a MOSS 2007 vs. WSS v3 Feature? 2/3/2010 8:24 PM md

Thanks for this article! I am totally new to Sharepoint and I am still a little confused about something. The other day I downloaded and installed what I thought to be just the free Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (sharepoint.exe). I installed it using the standalone option. It set up three sites in IIS: the Sharepoint 80 site, the Central Adminstration Site, and a Shared Services Administration site. Well, some things got messed up and I ended up having to uninstall and reinstall (after deleting all the sites and sharepoint databases). After the re-install, everything worked, but there is no longer a Shared Services Administration site.

After reading your article, and seeing that Shared Services are part of MOSS and not WSS, this makes sense, but how/was it put there on the first install? I know it was there because it allowed me to set up new users on the server, which I can no longer to. And it wasn't there before I installed WSS, this is a brand new server. If you have any idea why this happened I would be forever grateful!

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