Can't register as versioned Catch 22s

Question

I have 10.1 ArcSDE feature datasets that I would like to register as versioned. For most FDSs (with ArcMap, ArcCatalog, and geoprocessor), I get an error that states I can't do this while tables are set to move edits to base.

It seems that in some earlier ArcMap version, some feature classes may have been registered as versioned. I have not gone through every FDS looking for this, but I did find one annotation FC like this. In this version of the software, there does not appear to be any way to get a feature class versioned while the feature dataset is not. As it stands, I can't edit directly, version, or unversion most of the data in this database.

DanaNolan · Answer

If anyone else encounters this problem, I am offering one (not very easy) solution.

We had to migrate to a new server, and this problem disappeared when the files were copied. There is probably a less
dramatic way to reset these version specifications, such as a command-line solution.

DanaNolan · Answer

Thank you for your reply.  If you only want to register a single feature class as versioned, you will need to consider moving it out of the feature dataset.

I definitely don't want to do that. I want to register almost all of the FDSs as versioned so I can edit this data. 
As for the first part of your post, I'm not sure if this is your production database or how much data you have, but might it be possible to create new feature datasets and feature classes... then load those feature classes with the data from your existing feature classes?  Otherwise, it may be cleaner to simply create a new geodatabase entirely... although more time consuming.

This is a mapping/production dataset accessed by other groups. We really can't take it down easily or rename all the datasets, and right now I have little ArcSDE DBA support. There are about 100 feature classes, with about 20 of them loose and about 5 in feature datasets that do not have this problem.

So how did this happen? way back in version 8.3? This seems like a bug that the database upgrade tools did not take care of this.

WilliamCraft · Answer

The same behavior occurs in 9.3.1, 10.0, and 10.2... that is, you cannot register a feature class as versioned within a feature dataset but not register the other feature classes within that same feature dataset.  If you only want to register a single feature class as versioned, you will need to consider moving it out of the feature dataset.  However, if you do that then the feature class can't participate in things like geometric networks, parcel fabrics, or topologies.

As for the first part of your post, I'm not sure if this is your production database or how much data you have, but might it be possible to create new feature datasets and feature classes... then load those feature classes with the data from your existing feature classes?  Otherwise, it may be cleaner to simply create a new geodatabase entirely... although more time consuming.