I have a development here.  I'm now able to bring up a DNN site on my Vista laptop, using the code from my production system.  However, what comes up is a blank DNN site, not a copy of my production system.  I see no error messages.  The only thing I've changed in web.config is the SQL connection strings in the <connectionStrings> and <appSettings> sections.  Here are the strings I'm working with:

  <connectionStrings>
    <!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2005 Express - set up for KEI Laptop --> 
    <add
      name="SiteSqlServer"
      connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;uid=oscuser;pwd=mozart;"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />     
<!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2000/2005 OSC Production config  
 <add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Server=70.85.90.120,2433;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=oscuser;pwd=mozart;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /> -->
  </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
    <!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2005 Express - kept for backwards compatability - legacy modules - set up for KEI Laptop -->  
  <add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=oscuser;pwd=mozart;"/>
<!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2000/2005 - kept for backwards compatability - legacy modules
(OSC Production config) 
    <add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Server=70.85.90.120,2433;Database=oaklandsymphonychorus;uid=oscuser;pwd=mozart;" /> -->
    <add key="InstallTemplate" value="DotNetNuke.install.config" />
    <add key="AutoUpgrade" value="true" />
    <add key="InstallMemberRole" value="true" />
    <add key="ShowMissingKeys" value="false" />
    <add key="EnableWebFarmSupport" value="false" />
    <add key="EnableCachePersistence" value="false" />
    <add key="HostHeader" value="" />
    <!-- Host Header to remove from URL so "www.mydomain.com/johndoe/Default.aspx" is treated as "www.mydomain.com/Default.aspx" -->
    <add key="RemoveAngleBrackets" value="false" />
    <!--optionally strip angle brackets on public login and registration screens-->
    <add key="PersistentCookieTimeout" value="0" />
    <!--use as persistent cookie expiration. Value is in minutes, and only active if a non-zero figure-->
    <add key="InstallationDate" value="10/4/2006" />
  </appSettings>

Can anyone see anything obviously wrong that I need to change?

I do understand about comments.  I'm not surprised that the 2 connection strings have to be the same - I am surprised that they AREN'T the same in my production system, which is working.  If I understand you correctly, these 3 options are alternatives of which I should use only one in both connection strings:

1. database name, user, pwd
2. database name and integrated security
3. file name (like AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf )

Thanks for the suggestion about what to activate in IIS - I think it's all there but will double check. 

I have a question about the SQL database.  On my production system, I can log into the SQL database as the database owner, look at and update tables, etc.  On my test site, I can log into SQL Server Mgt. Studio Express as the database owner, and I can see the database, but I can't open the database.  Here's how I created the database:

1. Logged in as sa
2. Created the login for the db owner, oscuser
3. Created a blank db called oaklandsymphonychorus
4. Under the new DB, created a "user" oscuser and linked it to the oscuser login, also assigned it as db_owner in both sections below
5. As sa, restored the database from my latest backup (I've never been able to restore from my backup as the db_owner login)

I've essentially derived this process from several different instruction sites.  If it isn't correct, what is wrong?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!

It has to be significant that I can't access my database in Management Studio Express from the login, oscuser, that is supposed to be the dbo.  I never have been able to.  I create the database using the instructions on Michael Washington's site, but I'm always logged in as sa when I do it, and sa is the only account that can access the database, or restore it from the backup file.  For my test purposes I really want be able to access the database as oscuser, which is my production database user.

If I can't access the database from oscuser in Management Studio Express, it stands to reason that I can't access it from that ID via localhost either - but that means something is wrong with the SQL configuration and I don't know what it is.  My last resort would be to change the configuration string to access the database as sa, but at that point I don't have a true duplicate of my production site.

I tried to create the database logged in as oscuser, but it wasn't allowed.  I went back and gave oscuser a server role of db_creator, and then I could create a database, but I couldn't create a database user, because it said that:

The login already has an account under a different user name. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 15063)

I really need some SQL help here.