SharePoint 2010… Deleted a custom site template, now some sites are messed up

Question

Something is going on with my SharePoint Foundation 2010 installation and I'm not sure how to fix it.

Here is the sequence of events:

1. Create a site, modify and get approval that is this the look of all future sites.
2. Create a template of the site.
3. Upload this site template (WSP) to a number of collections.
4. Use the template to create a few sites.
5. Change the look so much, that the original template is now useless for creating new sites.
6. Disable and Delete the "Solution" from all the collections.
7. Enjoy the fact that some of the sites created using the templates are now really screwed.

In the logs, there are sequences of entries with:

Relying on fallback logic in VghostPageManager::getGhostDocument()

Where it's looking for:

C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Microsoft Shared\\Web Server Extensions\\14\\Template\\Features** * ** * ** * ** *Modules\\Files_themes\\0\\WIKI-ECF524AA.CSS

(NOTE: the * is the template name that was deleted. I've removed it for legal reasons from this post).

How can we set the site to NOT look for stuff (in this case a CSS) in a template that's now gone. I tried putting the WSP back for old template, but it's still broke. I can't seem to figure out where a site references what template it was originally created from.

And, the really odd thing, is that not all my sites have this issue... just a couple. I'm really confused

Thanks

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the feature used to include some of the site template resources (css) needs to remain. is not "old" if it is still being used. I suggest you hide the site template so it can no longer used in the future. Use a new site template for the changed visual look and feel if the old sites must remain as they are.

No question that this is a mess though.