Inconsistent behavior when deploying custom SharePoint solution across multiple tenants

Question

Inconsistent behavior when deploying custom SharePoint solution across multiple tenants

Arjun Mehra 100

A technical issue when deploying a SharePoint custom solution across multiple Microsoft 365 tenants. The solution (not SPFx-specific, includes JSON column formatting, custom site scripts, and REST API calls) works as expected in my primary development tenant, but shows inconsistent behavior when deployed to two other tenants. Issues include: JSON formatting not rendering, site script actions failing silently, and REST API calls returning 401/403 even though API permissions were granted.

Here’s what I’ve done so far to keep environments aligned:

Confirmed same SharePoint Online build version and release ring across all tenants

Created App Catalog and deployed the same package with matching version numbers

Granted admin consent for required Graph and SharePoint API permissions

Verified tenant properties via PowerShell (Get-SPOTenant, Get-MgPolicyAuthorizationPolicy)

Tested using the same user roles (SharePoint Admin + Global Admin) to avoid permission discrepancies

Despite identical configuration and setup, behavior still differs per tenant. It seems like certain tenant-level restrictions, feature flighting, or service health states might be impacting functionality.

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Answer accepted by question author

Kha-N 8,260 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @ArjunMehra,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, and thank you very much for reaching out to us.

Based on your description, to assist you better, could you clarify what you mean by “custom solution”?

Is it an application? If so, what is its primary function?

If possible, please share the application code or relevant snippets. This will help us review how the solution operates and isolate the issues.

In the meantime, please consider the following checks:

Admin Consent for Multi-Tenant Apps: Ensure the external tenant has granted admin consent for your app.
External User and App Access in SharePoint Admin Center > Policies > Sharing, verify that external users and apps are allowed. Enable “Allow apps to access SharePoint for external users”.

Looking forward to your response.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Arjun Mehra 100

I deployed the same SharePoint solution package across multiple tenants, but the behavior isn’t consistent. It works fully in my main dev tenant, but in the other tenants some components don’t load or execute properly

I’ve confirmed the same package version, app catalog setup, permissions, and admin roles are applied in all tenants. This makes me wonder if the issue could be related to tenant-level feature rollouts or permission propagation differences.

My Snippet:

# Connect to SharePoint
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com" -Interactive
Write-Host "Starting site provisioning..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
try {
    # Create a new site
    $siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectHub"
    New-PnPTenantSite -Title "Project Hub" -Url $siteUrl -Owner "******@contoso.com" -Template "SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0"
    Write-Host "Site created successfully."
    # Apply a PnP template
    Write-Host "Applying PnP template..."
    Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate -Path ".\Templates\ProjectHubTemplate.pnp"
    Write-Host "Template applied successfully."
    # Create a list
    Write-Host "Creating 'Projects' list..."
    Add-PnPList -Title "Projects" -Template GenericList -OnQuickLaunch
    Add-PnPField -List "Projects" -DisplayName "Status" -InternalName "Status" -Type Choice -Choices "New","In Progress","Review","Completed"
    Write-Host "'Projects' list created."
    # Add sample items
    Add-PnPListItem -List "Projects" -Values @{ Title = "Automation Setup"; Status = "In Progress" }
    Add-PnPListItem -List "Projects" -Values @{ Title = "Requirements Review"; Status = "New" }
    Write-Host "Provisioning completed with no errors." -ForegroundColor Green
}
catch {
    Write-Host "Provisioning failed!" -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message
    if ($_.Exception.Message -like "*Access denied*") {
        Write-Warning "Possible cause: Missing API permissions or SharePoint feature not enabled in this tenant."
    }
}

Kha-N 8,260 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T14:48:10.05+00:00

Hi @ArjunMehra,

Thank you for your detailed response.

The additional information you've provided is extremely helpful and will greatly assist me in formulating the most appropriate approach for your situation.

However, given the complexity of the request, I’d like to take some time to thoroughly review the information and perform further testing to ensure I can provide you with the most effective solution.

I’ll follow up with you as soon as I have an update. I truly appreciate your patience and apologize for any delay.

Warm thanks.
Kha-N 8,260 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-12T09:28:24.89+00:00
Hi @ArjunMehra,

Thank you very much for your time and patience.

After reviewing your code, I can confirm there’s nothing inherently wrong with the snippet. Since it works in your own tenant, the issue is likely related to tenant-level feature rollouts or differences in permission propagation, as you suspected.

Please note that, at this time, Microsoft does not provide official documentation that specifically addresses this behavior in cross-tenant SharePoint deployments. The guidance I’ve shared is based on the most current documentation available and extensive research into similar cases, with the goal of helping you move forward as effectively as possible.

From my research, here are some findings that may help:

As Your script applies the template and creates lists immediately after site creation, without waiting for provisioning or reconnecting to the new site. In some tenants, this can work because provisioning is fast. But in others, commands run against the root site or a site that isn’t ready, which may lead to inconsistent results.

Therefore, the safest approach is to wait for the site to finish provisioning, then reconnect before applying changes. For example:

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com" -Interactive $siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectHub" New-PnPTenantSite -Title "Project Hub" -Url $siteUrl -Owner "******@contoso.com" -Template "SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0" -TimeZoneId 13 -RemoveDeletedSite # Wait until the site is ready Wait-PnPTenantSite -Url $siteUrl # Reconnect to the new site Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive # Apply template and create lists Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate -Path ".\Templates\ProjectHubTemplate.pnp" Add-PnPList -Title "Projects" -Template GenericList -OnQuickLaunch Add-PnPField -List "Projects" -DisplayName "Status" -InternalName "Status" -Type Choice -Choices "New","In Progress","Review","Completed" # Optional: Apply JSON column formatting $fmt = '{ "$schema":"https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json","elmType":"div","txtContent":"@currentField"}' Set-PnPField -List "Projects" -Identity "Status" -Values @{ CustomFormatter = $fmt }

Regarding your JSON formatting, note that it depends on modern experience and can be affected by policies like DenyAddAndCustomizePages. Ensure these settings allow customization for your custom solution to function. For more details, I highly suggest you review this Microsoft Article here.

For 401/403 errors, as mentioned earlier, tenant-level app permissions alone aren’t sufficient for app-only scenarios. The external tenant must grant admin consent for your app to ensure it functions properly across other tenants.

This summary is based on insights gathered from community discussions and related threads, but it may not fully reflect the exact behavior you’re experiencing.

Please note that as a Microsoft moderator, I don’t have access to your app configuration and can only provide guidance based on available resources and experience.

For a deeper dive into your issue, I recommend posting your question on the Microsoft Tech Community forum. It’s an excellent place for detailed technical discussions and for connecting with professionals who have real-world expertise. They can offer practical advice and valuable insights to help you resolve this issue effectively.

hope this information able to help you further.

Warm thanks.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Arjun Mehra 100 Reputation points

2025-11-07T14:40:01.8233333+00:00

I deployed the same SharePoint solution package across multiple tenants, but the behavior isn’t consistent. It works fully in my main dev tenant, but in the other tenants some components don’t load or execute properly

I’ve confirmed the same package version, app catalog setup, permissions, and admin roles are applied in all tenants. This makes me wonder if the issue could be related to tenant-level feature rollouts or permission propagation differences.

My Snippet:

# Connect to SharePoint Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com" -Interactive Write-Host "Starting site provisioning..." -ForegroundColor Cyan try { # Create a new site $siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectHub" New-PnPTenantSite -Title "Project Hub" -Url $siteUrl -Owner "******@contoso.com" -Template "SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0" Write-Host "Site created successfully." # Apply a PnP template Write-Host "Applying PnP template..." Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate -Path ".\Templates\ProjectHubTemplate.pnp" Write-Host "Template applied successfully." # Create a list Write-Host "Creating 'Projects' list..." Add-PnPList -Title "Projects" -Template GenericList -OnQuickLaunch Add-PnPField -List "Projects" -DisplayName "Status" -InternalName "Status" -Type Choice -Choices "New","In Progress","Review","Completed" Write-Host "'Projects' list created." # Add sample items Add-PnPListItem -List "Projects" -Values @{ Title = "Automation Setup"; Status = "In Progress" } Add-PnPListItem -List "Projects" -Values @{ Title = "Requirements Review"; Status = "New" } Write-Host "Provisioning completed with no errors." -ForegroundColor Green } catch { Write-Host "Provisioning failed!" -ForegroundColor Red Write-Host $_.Exception.Message if ($_.Exception.Message -like "*Access denied*") { Write-Warning "Possible cause: Missing API permissions or SharePoint feature not enabled in this tenant." } }
Kha-N 8,260 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T14:48:10.05+00:00

Hi @ArjunMehra,

Thank you for your detailed response.

The additional information you've provided is extremely helpful and will greatly assist me in formulating the most appropriate approach for your situation.

However, given the complexity of the request, I’d like to take some time to thoroughly review the information and perform further testing to ensure I can provide you with the most effective solution.

I’ll follow up with you as soon as I have an update. I truly appreciate your patience and apologize for any delay.

Warm thanks.

Answer 1

When deploying a custom SharePoint solution across multiple tenants, inconsistent behavior can often arise due to several factors, even when the configurations appear identical. Here are some potential areas to investigate based on your description:

Tenant-Level Restrictions: Each tenant may have different settings or restrictions that could affect functionality. Check if there are any specific policies or configurations that differ between your primary development tenant and the other tenants.
Feature Flighting: Microsoft periodically rolls out features in phases. It's possible that the other tenants are on different release rings or have not yet received certain features that your primary tenant has. Ensure that all tenants are on the same release ring and confirm the availability of features you are using.
Service Health States: Check the service health dashboard for any issues that might be affecting the tenants where the solution is failing. Sometimes, service outages or degraded performance can lead to unexpected behavior.
API Permissions: Even though you have granted admin consent for the required API permissions, verify that the permissions are correctly configured in each tenant. Sometimes, permissions might appear granted but may not be functioning as expected due to tenant-specific settings.
Custom Scripts and Site Collection App Catalogs: Ensure that custom scripts are enabled in the target tenants, as this can affect the deployment of site scripts and JSON formatting. If custom scripts are disabled, it may lead to issues like those you are experiencing.
Testing with Different User Roles: While you have tested with the same user roles, consider testing with different user accounts to rule out any account-specific issues or permissions that might not be immediately apparent.

If the issues persist, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance, as they may have insights into tenant-specific configurations that could be impacting your solution's behavior.

References:

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Inconsistent behavior when deploying custom SharePoint solution across multiple tenants

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