I have seen this as a common problem that MySite and MyLinks don’t show up on a portal.  Let’s take a quick look at why they may not be showing up.

Step 1 – Try to look at configuration

The first step is checking to make sure the Shared Service Provider is set up. 

To do this:

1. Go to http://centraladmin.devcow.loc/_admin/managessp.aspx
2. Make sure that the Portal is listed under the Shared Service you have set up with MySites
3. Next confirm that the settings of the Shared Service Provider are correct, this will be the web application and the MySite Location Url as well as any permission accounts.
4. Once you have checked the Shared Service, check inside of the Shared Service under Personalization services permissions that NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users has both Personal Features, Personal Site rights.

Step 2 – Understand the Link controls and locations better

If none of that works, there could be a permission issue or a problem deploying the MySite features.

Let’s look at what the links actually are on the page and how they show up and don’t show up. 

You might have guessed they are just delegate controls!  So there you have 2 of the at least 3 delegate controls on the page.  Check this reference out SharePoint Delegate Controls in SharePoint 2007 - Best Practices.

The MySiteFeatureElements.xml file simply has 3 delegate controls that are turned on and provide the link functionality needed.

<Control Id="GlobalSiteLink1" Sequence="100" ControlSrc="~/_controltemplates/mysitelink.ascx" />
<Control Id="GlobalSiteLink2" Sequence="100" ControlSrc="~/_controltemplates/mylinks.ascx"/>
<Control Id="ProfileRedirection" Sequence="100" ControlSrc="~/_controltemplates/mysiteredirection.ascx"/>

Step 3 – Check that the MySite Feature is Activated

If you still don’t see the MySite link make sure that this feature is activated.  To do this you can download the stsadm commands from Gary Enumerate Features.  Then simply run this command with your central administration website and validate that the feature with Title My Site (the GUID is 69CC9662-D373-47fc-9449-F18D11FF732C) is activated.

Mine looked like this from the stsadm command

stsadm -o gl-enumfeatures -url http://centraladmin.devcow.loc -showhidden

71. MySite: My Site (Farm - Active)

Step 4 – Come up with other ideas or try any other option

If that still doesn’t work it could be permission issues with the users or with a connection to your Shared Service provider.

Also you can try connecting the site to a portal location, check out this blog entry

Set up SharePoint sites with user profiles and SSP correctly