Cannot connect to a SharePoint site with SharePoint Designer 2013

I've spent more than half an hour trying to open my company's SharePoint 2013 site in SharePoint Designer 2013. There were no errors - just several identical dialogs showing the prompt for credentials (there were 3 or more of them), and then... nothing happened. I wasn't able to find the log file for SPD, so I went googling for the solution.

It took me several hours to dig through the Internet checking all sane pieces of advice.

Solution 1. Install updates for SPD

Well, you know where to find them - search at Microsoft site.

Solution 2. Map network drive

Refer to How to connect to a SharePoint site using WebDav (SharePoint 2013).

I managed to map the SharePoint site as a network drive, and I could also browse the site's content with Windows Explorer, but all attempts to open the site from a mapped drive led to nowhere - nothing happened.

Solution 3. Adjust Internet Options

Add the site you want to open to Local Sites in Internet Options (the hint was found in Sharepoint Designer repeatedly prompts for credentials which guides to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174360).

Solution 4. Erase cache files

Close SPD, and erase following directories (the hint was found in Office365 community) for the current user (somewhere under "?:\Users\MyName"):

1. "\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache"
2. "\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions"

Solution 5. Open the site in Internet Explorer

This may look queer, but SharePoint Designer relies on Internet Explorer (at least on some its part) - just try to use SPD when IE is Offline - it won't let you do a bit.

Resolution

Unfortunately all solutions failed on my PC when applied separately. However I was persistent, and I did it!

The usual approach with combining several solution made it work.

The recipe is as follows:

1. Install SPD 2013 updates (I'm not sure whether this step is crucial) - this action should be done once.
2. Before you start SPD 2013 you should have erased the cache file.
3. Before you open the site in SPD 2013 you should have same site opened in IE.

Conclusion

If you're unlucky, then the only option is to investigate the HTTP/HTTPS traffic with Fiddler (here is the proof-link that it helps).

The silent behavior of SharePoint Designer 2013 in the described case is very unfriendly and frustrating. And I would drop SPD2013 right away, if I had another tool to manage SharePoint Workflows.

See also

• SharePoint Designer cannot open site

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