Following is the steps to connect to the Windows internal database on Windows 2012 machine.

· Download Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Express from the link

o Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Express
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29062

· Install Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Express on the ADFS server ( This is because the WAP configuration is stored in the ADFS configuration database)

o Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Express   requires NetFx3 feature (.Net Framework 3.5) to be enable on the Windows 2012 sever, if you face issue enabling .net feature follow the steps in the link

o https://sqlblog.com/blogs/sergio_govoni/archive/2013/07/13/how-to-install-netfx3-on-windows-server-2012-required-by-sql-server-2012.aspx

· Once installation is completed launch the SQL management studio.

· For server name enter \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query in case if we are connecting to Windows Server 2012 internal database.

o If we are connecting to windows 2003 and 2008 windows internal DB then we ne use  \\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query

· Then click on connect and now we can access the Windows internal database and execute SQL queries as required.

For User Profile service application we require following service
in the services.msc.

-  Forefront Identity Manager Service.
-  Forefront Identity synchronization Manage
Service.

The above service gets provisioned when we services are provisioned.
I my case I found both the Forefront services was missing.

Later after further research found that following registry
keys were missing from the SharePoint box, due to this Forefront services was
missing from the services.msc.

Missing registry Key:

HKLM\System\Controlset1\FIMService

HKLM\System\Controlset2\FIMService

HKLM\System\CurrentControlset\FIMService

HKLM\System\Controlset1\FIMSynchronizationService

HKLM\System\Controlset2\FIMSynchronizationService

HKLM\System\CurrentControlset\FIMSynchronizationService

Exported the above registry Keys from working SharePoint
2010 box and imported in to the Problematic SharePoint 2010 box were we have
issue starting User Profile service application.

Note:- Before making any registry changes ensure we take a backup of the registry.

After importing the registry key reboot the machine and then
you would find the both the Forefront services

-  Forefront Identity Manager Service.

-  Forefront Identity synchronization Manage
Service.

Later I could create a User Profile service application

When a user with full control permission tries to edit an item in the SharePoint list he gets ‘access denied’. In fact, even system account gets ‘access denied’ on editing the same list item.  

On examining the ULS logs I see the following logged. 

Errors in the ULS log:

===================

46:22.3         w3wp.exe (0x0D94)                               0x097C         Windows SharePoint Services             General                            8gs1   Verbose        Access Denied for /Lists/123/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Source=http%3A%2F%2Faaaaa%2FLists%2Fviren%2FAllItems%2Easpx. StackTrace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility:Void HandleAccessDenied(System.Exception), Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.BaseFieldControl:Void OnInit(System.EventArgs), Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.ParentInformationField:Void OnInit(System.EventArgs), System.Web.UI.Control:Void InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control), System.Web.UI.Control:Void InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control), System.Web.UI.Control:Void AddedControl(System.Web.UI.Control, Int32), Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ListFormWebPart:Void CreateChildControls(), System.Web.UI.Control:Void EnsureChildControls(), Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart:Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.Menu get_WebPartMe...             

This issue has been addressed in the Service Pack 2 for WSS 3.0 (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/961175).

But installing Service Pack 2 will prevent this issue occurring on a new list. But the access denied issue with existing list will not get resolved.

To fix the issue with the broken list, I had a code developed by one of our developers.

The code is as follows and needs to be edited and run at the site collection level to prevent any new lists on the site from facing the same problem

=======================================================================

void FixWebField()
{
string RenderXMLPattenAttribute = "RenderXMLUsingPattern";
string weburl = "<<https://localhost/>>";
SPSite site = new SPSite(weburl);
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPField f = web.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("PermMask");
string s = f.SchemaXml;
Console.WriteLine("schemaXml before: " + s);
XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
xd.LoadXml(s);
XmlElement xe = xd.DocumentElement;
if (xe.Attributes[RenderXMLPattenAttribute] == null)
{
XmlAttribute attr = xd.CreateAttribute(RenderXMLPattenAttribute);
attr.Value = "TRUE";
xe.Attributes.Append(attr);
}
string strXml = xe.OuterXml;
Console.WriteLine("schemaXml after: " + strXml);
f.SchemaXml = strXml;
}

Next, edit the following code and target your broken list(s). This should correct the targeted list to no longer have the ‘access denied’ error message.

==============================================================
void FixField()
{
string RenderXMLPattenAttribute = "RenderXMLUsingPattern";
string weburl = "<<https://localhost/>>";
string listName = "test2";
SPSite site = new SPSite(weburl);
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPList list = web.Lists[listName];
SPField f = list.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("PermMask");
string s = f.SchemaXml;
Console.WriteLine("schemaXml before: " + s);
XmlDocument xd = new XmlDocument();
xd.LoadXml(s);
XmlElement xe = xd.DocumentElement;
if (xe.Attributes[RenderXMLPattenAttribute] == null)
{
XmlAttribute attr = xd.CreateAttribute(RenderXMLPattenAttribute);
attr.Value = "TRUE";
xe.Attributes.Append(attr);
}
string strXml = xe.OuterXml;
Console.WriteLine("schemaXml after: " + strXml);
f.SchemaXml = strXml;
}

Hope this is helpful! :)

In my scenario this did not happen as the Portal.js file in the _Layouts folder had been modified and had some lines missing which were deleted by mistake.

The Portal.js file has the necessary functions to resize the image.

As a workaround, I copied the Portal.js file from a different SharePoint box and replaced the problematic Portal.js file. This resolved the issue as can be seen in the screenshot below:

The image got resized after replacing the problematic Portal.js file.

- A valid SMTP Server address (specifically) is entered in the Central admin page.

- Exchange server Anonymous users are allowed to send emails or (and)  the SMTP connector is configured properly.

Note: In exchange 2007 server by default “Anonymous users” is disabled. But in Exchange 2003 “Anonymous users” is enabled by default. (Sharepoint “Outgoing Email” doesn't work, when “Anonymous users” options is disabled in Exchange server 2007.) 

we need to confirm that there are no communication issues between SharePoint and Exchange. This can be confirmed by setting an alert on a document library. Once we set the alert on the document library, a subscription email is sent. If we receive the subscription email, then there no communication issue with SharePoint and Exchange.

An alternative method to check this is via telnet. Log on to the machine with the account that is meant to be used as a SharePoint service account and follow the steps below to ensure there are no communication issues between SharePoint and Exchange.

From the command prompt execute the below command one by one.

Having done this, check your inbox and you should receive an emails which will ensure that there no communication issues between exchange server and the SharePoint box.

Now the SharePoint box is ready for alert configuration. When we configure an alert on document library we get a subscription email.

When a subscription email is sent we see the following in the netmon trace.

Now we would get alerts based on the alerts configuration. Immediate alerts are most commonly used. This is where we face issues like.

- The users get subscription email, but they do not get subsequent alerts emails for changes.

- Few of the users do not get subsequent alerts emails.

- Intermittently user do not get subsequent alerts email .

This is where netmon trace would be handy to determine if the issue is with the SharePoint or Exchange, before jumping into advance troubleshooting.

When we make changes to a document library on which alerts are configure to trigger immediately, we would get an alert email saying that there has been a change.

And in the netmon trace we see the following

While troubleshooting subsequent alerts issue, if we see the SMTP traffic in the netmon trace (as shown above), it means that there is no issue with the alert configuration in SharePoint.

If we do not see the SMTP traffic in the netmon trace, then we need to further look into the SharePoint configuration and would require further troubleshooting from SharePoint's  perspective.

For further troubleshooting on alerts from SharePoint's perspective refer to the below blog.

https://blogs.technet.com/harikumh/archive/2008/05/25/troubleshooting-alerts.aspx

Link to download Netmon:

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f&displaylang=en