I'm having the same issue described in this post.
But the solutions I see everywhere don't apply to my case. That is, publishing features, site collection and site level, are both deactivated, and still, no "Save Site as Template" button.
Ideas, appreciated.
Thanks!
Permissions can be an issue:
It may be the case where in you do not have sufficient permissions on the site or the root site to carry out the "save site as template" functionality.
If you are trying this for a sub-site and you do not have sufficient rights (atleast contribute) on the root site, then also you may not be shown the "save site as template" option in site settings of sub-site. Also if you trying this for root site itself with sufficient rights on site but do not have sufficient (at least contribute) rights on the root site's site template gallery library, then also you may not be shown the "save as site template" option on site settings page of root site. This is because templates are saved at root site level in sharepoint.
Your can find more useful information @ this link.
Some other useful observations:
When Saving a Site as Template the WSP generated is temporarily saved in the c:temp or in c:windowstemp folder and later in the solution gallery on SharePoint. Make sure that the App pool account has Full permissions to c:temp and c:windowstemp folder.
You Cannot Create a Subsite based on a Site Template that was Created in SharePoint 2010. You will need to recreate the site template in the 2013.
Courtesy of the above observations: this link.
