SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflow fails to start

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Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

You try to start a SharePoint Designer 2010 Workflow which includes a custom task form. However, the workflow fails to start with the following error:
" The form cannot be rendered. This may be due to a misconfiguration of the Microsoft SharePoint Server State Service. For more information, contact your server administrator. "

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Cause

The State Service is not configured on the SharePoint Server 2010 Farm.

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Resolution

Configure the State Service as per Manage the State Service (SharePoint Server 2010).

In most instances, the State Service is automatically configured when the farm configuration wizard is run. You must use Windows PowerShell if you want to reconfigure the State Service after initial configuration.

To configure the State Service by using Windows PowerShell:

On the Start menu, click All Programs.
Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.
Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.
To create a service application, type the following command:
```
$serviceApp = New-SPStateServiceApplication -Name "<StateServiceName>"
```
Where <StateServiceName> is the name for the service application.

Note:
You must have at least one service application for the State Service. In hosted deployments, each hosted partition can have its own service application, but it’s not necessary. The name of the service application must be unique. If you are creating an additional service application, you must replace the name text with a unique name.
To create a State Service database and associate it with a service application, type the following command:
```
New-SPStateServiceDatabase -Name "<StateServiceDatabase>" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp
```
Where <StateServiceDatabase> is the name of the State Service database to be created and associated with the service application.

Note:
You must have at least one State Service database for each State Service service application. You can create additional databases in the same service application to increase capacity for forms and charts. Every database must have a unique name.

The previous command uses the default database instance on the farm and default database credentials. For more information about how to specify a different database server or database credentials, see New-SPStateServiceDatabase.
To create a State Service application proxy, associate it with the service application, add it to the farm's default proxy group, and type the following command:
```
New-SPStateServiceApplicationProxy -Name "<ApplicationProxyName>" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp -DefaultProxyGroup
```
Where <ApplicationProxyName> is the name of the application proxy.

Note:
If you do not want to add the State Service application proxy to the default proxy group, do not specify the DefaultProxyGroup parameter.