Previously, I discussed how to clear the SharePoint configuration cache (also called the SharePoint timer job cache) using a PowerShell script.

For those interested (and for my own reference), here’s some additional information on how to do the same process manually:

• Stop the “SharePoint 2010 Timer” service (or the “SharePoint Timer Service” if you’re on a SharePoint 2013 farm) on all the SharePoint servers in your farm.
• For each server, navigate to “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUID” and delete all the xml files in this directory. Take care not to delete the .ini file.
• For each server, edit the cache.ini file in the same folder that contained the XML files, and set the content to “1” (without the quotes). This means all cache settings need to be refreshed. This value eventually gets updated to another number when the cache is repopulated.
• Start the “SharePoint 2010 Timer” service (or the “SharePoint Timer Service” for a 2013 farm) on all the SharePoint servers in your farm.

If you mistakenly deleted the .ini file or the entire config directory, you will need to recreate it:

• The directory name is a GUID and you will find it in registry here – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14\Secure\ConfigDB
• Copy the GUID from the Id attribute and create the new directory – C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUID.
• In the new directory, create a new cache.ini file and using notepad, edit the file to contain the value “1” (without quotes).
• Save and close.
• Restart the “SharePoint 2010 Timer” service (or the “SharePoint Timer Service” for a 2013 farm) on all the SharePoint servers in your farm.