[BUG]When trying to run Enable-PnPFeature I get an error 'Feature with Id {featureID} is not installed in this farm, and cannot be added to this scope.'

[westleyMS]

Reporting an Issue or Missing Feature

When calling Enable-PnPFeatures -identity {FeatureGuid} -scope web, the call fails with this error-
"Enable-PnPFeature: Feature with Id 'bced7401-2f20-445b-b1c0-111cf32ef160' is not installed in this farm, and cannot be added to this scope."

Expected behavior

It should enable the feature.

Actual behavior

It throws the error above

Steps to reproduce behavior

I connected app-only with this-
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $url -ClientId "{appID}" -CertificatePath .\cert.pfx -Tenant {tenantName}.onmicrosoft.com

Then I try to run the command-
Enable-PnPFeature -Identity $featureid -Scope Web

I can go in the UI and enable it, and it is there and enables.
I can run this if it is enabled-
Disable-PnPFeature -Identity $featureid -Scope Web

and that disables the feature.

I got a fiddler trace and see this call-
POST https://{tenantName}.sharepoint.com/_api/Web/Features/add(guid'{featureGUID}') HTTP/1.1

And the response-
{
"odata.error": {
"code": "-1, System.InvalidOperationException",
"message": {
"lang": "en-US",
"value": "Feature with Id '{featureGUID}' is not installed in this farm, and cannot be added to this scope."
}
}
}

What is the version of the Cmdlet module you are running?

3.1.0

Which operating system/environment are you running PnP PowerShell on?

• Windows
• Linux
• MacOS
• Azure Cloud Shell
• Azure Functions
• Other : please specify

[reshmee011]

@westleyMS : What's the name of the feature with Id 'bced7401-2f20-445b-b1c0-111cf32ef160'?

[westleyMS]

That is the custom feature I am trying to activate. I can deactivate it fine, but the error happens on activation/enable.
If I reset it in the UI (activate) it works fine, no error. I can then deactivate it. But when I go to activate it, I get this error. Looks like a bug in the REST call, almost like it doesn't know the scope even though it is called off the REST /Web endpoint.
I named it Full-Width-Part. If I call get-pnpfeature -scope web it comes back with a displayname that is the GUID

[reshmee011]

It's been too long for me that I have not created a custom feature and I don't have any in my environment to test to fix it. The code in the backend is CSOM. How did you create a custom feature in SharePoint Online out of curiosity and will see if I can reproduce the issue?

[westleyMS]

Any SPFx webpart has a feature that the template creates for you. You can use a hello world part to test-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/web-parts/get-started/build-a-hello-world-web-part

[reshmee011]

@westleyMS : I could reproduce the issue. Currently the CSOM endpoint is used in the backend.

I get the same issue with REST API endpoint, "/_api/$scope/features/add(featureId=guid'$featureId',force=$forceText)"

I don't know any alternative ways to enable a custom features. If you are aware of any other ways we can try it out to see which one fixes the issue.

[westleyMS]

I am able to enable with CSOM successfully-

$ctx = Get-PnPContext
$web = $ctx.Web
$web.Retrieve("Url")
$site = $ctx.Site
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

$feats = $ctx.web.Features
$feats.RetrieveItems("DisplayName")
$ctx.Load($feats)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

$feats.Add($featureid,$false,"Web")
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()
$ctx.Web.RefreshLoad()

[reshmee011]

My bad, the PnP PowerShell code to enable the feature relies on the PnP Core model, which in turn uses REST API calls, hence the same error output. I’ve tested the CSOM snippet you provided and can confirm it’s working as expected. I’ll raise this with the team to determine how we should proceed with the fix.

[gautamdsheth]

@reshmee011 / @westleyMS - how about standard features ? Are we able to activate them without issues ? Wondering if it is specific to SPFx webparts/extensions or something

[westleyMS]

@gautamdsheth the UI features page works as expected. It is just the REST API that is failing. I think it has to do something with the context, as if it doesn't detect the web scope that is inferred from the URL.

[gautamdsheth]

@westleyMS - sorry, I meant activating OOTB features via PowerShell. I tested activating SiteNotebook feature and it worked:

Enable-PnPFeature -Identity "f151bb39-7c3b-414f-bb36-6bf18872052f" -Scope Web

Wondering if it is specific to SPFx solutions ?

Sample OOTB features:

https://pnp.github.io/script-samples/spo-activate-site-feature/README.html?tabs=pnpps

[westleyMS]

@gautamdsheth from what you just said it appears to be the case.
A custom feature was where the original problem originated for this issue.

[reshmee011]

@gautamdsheth : The cmdlet works well enabling OOB features. However the SPFs webparts, it does not work.

[gautamdsheth]

@westleyMS - i believe it might be related to this issue :

SharePoint/sp-dev-docs#5509 (comment)

Can you go through this issue and the comments and check the workaround ? Maybe it helps you ?