I can't delete a SharePoint web application! Now What?

I have recently ran into an issue where I go to delete a sharepoint web application and it fails with the error:  "Object not set to a reference of an object".  It turns out there are orphaned sites still associated to the web application in the farm configuration database.  Here is how you resolve this:

In SQL management studio:

select * from Objects (nolock) where Name like '%<name of the webapplication>%'
note the "Id" guid.
select * from SiteMap (nolock) where ApplicationId = '<Id guid from the above step>'
note the 'DatabaseId' guid.
 

Next step is to be done on a sharepoint server in the farm:

STSADM -O deleteconfigurationobject -id {DatabaseId guid from step above}

Repeat this for each row returned in the first step and then you will be able to successfully delete the web application from the farm.

 

Good luck and happy sharepoint'ing.

 

reference:  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/64fbf6d4-b84d-4c54-a5fb-3a421e35fae2/unable-to-delete-web-application-sharepoint-administrative-framework-error