Every once in awhile, we run into a situation with SharePoint 2010’s Managed Metadata where the feature is not enabled and not available.

Here is the scenario:

• You are creating a new column of type “Managed Metadata”
• When selecting the managed term set, you discover the following message:

The required feature is not enabled for this column type

• You navigate to
  Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Site Collection Administration –> Site Collection Features
  … and discover there is *no* managed metadata feature…

Ugh

Solution
(All steps below must be executed on the server hosting SharePoint 2010)

1. Launch the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell from the start menu/All Programs
   Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products –> SharePoint 2010 Management Shell
   (Wait for it… it is slow)
2. Execute the following command line at the prompt
   (Remember to replace [URL] with your site’s URL)

Enable-SPFeature -id “73EF14B1-13A9-416B-A9B5-ECECA2B0604C” -url  [URL]

Root Cause
In our experience, this has been the result of creating the top level site in the site collection using the Blank Site template.

Now, go enjoy your meta data!