Creating new SharePoint 2010 Sites with the old/v3 UI?

Question

I have a SharePoint 2010 Server that is running an upgraded SharePoint 2007 Content Database. Thanks to the v3/v4 Layout Support, all the "old" Pages still use SharePoint 2007-style layout.

However, all new sites are v4 Layout. As our v4 Master Page isn't done yet, this looks horribly out of place.

Is there a way to create Sites in SharePoint 2010 but have them still use the old v3/2007 Master Page?

Answer 1

There are many ways to do this. In your case the simplest will be to create a feature event receiver which sets the uiversion to 3 when activated. You can then attach the feature to all your different site definitions using a feature stapler. The masterpage can be set in the same feature receiver.

some info here(also has powershell command): http://aanuwizard.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/sharepoint-2010-branding-changing-uiversion-of-sharepoint-site/

Answer 2

Have you tried the Visual Upgrade feature in SharePoint 2010. The Visual Upgrade feature to give site collection owners and site owners the opportunity to preserve the previous user interface.

More on this here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607998.aspx

Answer 3

You have to resort to Powershell to revert the pages. I witnessed a demo of this being done, but I cannot find the code. Sorry, I can only provide you a testimonial at this point...