I've finally gotten IIS up, SQL Server 2005 Express up, my production web site backed up, and everything downloaded to the Vista laptop where I want to build a test site, just like my production site (except it isn't on SQL Server 2000).  My immediate problem is that I can't restore the database I set up on the test site from the backup of the production database.  I get this error:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: The backup set holds a backup of a database other than the existing 'oaklandsymphonychorus'
database. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Express.Smo)
 

My production hosting company doesn't let me make backups, if I want a backup I have to call them and ask them to make one; so there are a couple of things I'm not sure about.  One is, I'm not sure exactly how they made the backup.  The second is, the backup is about  4 weeks old, which won't matter for my purposes (although I can get a fresh one if I need to).  But the error doesn't say the backup is too old - it says it's the wrong database.

Both databases are called oaklandsymphonychorus.  Both databases are owned by a user called oscuser and both userids use the same password.  SQL Server Management Studio Express recognized the backup file and tried to do the restore, and then gave me the error.  Note that I was logged in as user sa when I tried the restore; user oscuser doesn't have access to the directory where the backup lives.

I can take this issue to the Microsoft forums if I need to, but does anyone here have any idea what may be wrong?  I've tried reading through the SQL Server Express documentation, but I feel like I'm asking it for the time and it's explaining how to build a watch.

ErikVB - I think you're right, and I think I've now successfully loaded the backup into the database.  At least, I got a successful return code.  But I still can't load the site; IIS is complaining about my web.config file.  Here's the error I get:

The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid.

Error Code 0x8007000d
Config Error Configuration file is not well-formed XML 
Config File \\?\C:\Users\Karen E. Ivy\Documents\Web2 OSC Backup\wwwroot\web.config 

It then lists these 2 lines, labeled Config Source:

267: </dotnetnuke>

268: </configuration>

These are the last 2 lines in web.config.  I thought this meant that my web.config file didn't have either a <dotnetnuke> statement or a <configuration> statement; but it has both.  It's based on the web.config file that drives my production site; I just changed the connection strings.  Here's my original connection string:

    <!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2000/2005-->
    <add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Server=70.85.90.120,2433;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=myuser;pwd=mypwd;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>

and appSettings connection string:

<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Server=70.85.90.120,2433;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=myuser;pwd=mypwd;" />

And here are the same strings from the test file:

<!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2005 Express -->
    <add
      name="SiteSqlServer"
      connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;uid=myuser;pwd=mypwd;"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

[ snip ]

<appSettings>
    <!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2005 Express - kept for backwards compatability - legacy modules --> 
    <add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=oscuser;pwd=mozart;" /> 

Can you see anything that would cause it to say the configuration file is malformed?  This is all I changed, honest!

 [moderator edit: obfuscated credentials]

Sebastian,

This is embarrassing.  I found it myself - I accidentally commented out a closing tag... AND you couldn't have seen it because I didn't copy it into the query!  And, you're quite right - I found it using WinMerge.

Thanks for trying...

Actually, your comment about the web.config file being in the root folder leads me to another question, if I may.  Where should the web site files go?  I originally dumped them into a subdirectory of my own Vista login, and then pointed the "application" to that in IIS.  At least once, I got DNN up that way; but it isn't working now.  I've been using these "build a site" instructions:

http://www.adefwebserver.com/DotNetNukeHELP/DNN4_DevelopmentEnvironment/DNNDevelopmentWindowsVista.htm

The section on setting up the DNN directory uses a screen shot that implies that it should be a subdirectory under c:\inetpub.  I didn't realize this until I began having these problems and looked again.  Where should the DNN web directory go?  The instruction doesn't suggest dumping everything into c:\inetpub\wwwroot; it actually looks as if it should be a directory on the same level as wwwroot under inetpub.  IIS is quite happy to have me put anything in as the physical path for the application associated with the default web site.

Can you clarify this? I'm having file access issues with the SQL database user that may be related to this.