I'm trying to install DNN 5.1.2 on Windows 7 Ultimate. When I try to run the app by typing //localhost/DotNetNuke in the browser's address bar I get the Server Error included below. However when I run DotNetNuke from within Visual Studio 2008 SP1, I get the DNN Installation Wizard. Sounds like an issue with permissions on IIS but how do I troubleshoot this?

The IIS_IUSRS group has Full Control on C:\DotNetNuke and C:\inetpub\wwwroot\*..DotNetNuke is configured as an IIS Application.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Scott

Server Error in '/DotNetNuke' Application.

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Security Exception

[SecurityException: Request for the permission of type 'System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed.]
   System.RuntimeTypeHandle._GetTypeByName(String name, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase, Boolean reflectionOnly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean loadTypeFromPartialName) +0
   System.RuntimeTypeHandle.GetTypeByName(String name, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase, Boolean reflectionOnly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) +64
   System.RuntimeType.PrivateGetType(String typeName, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase, Boolean reflectionOnly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) +58
   System.Type.GetType(String typeName, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase) +65
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetType(String typeName, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase) +342
   System.Web.Configuration.ConfigUtil.GetType(String typeName, String propertyName, ConfigurationElement configElement, XmlNode node, Boolean checkAptcaBit, Boolean ignoreCase) +52

For Windows 7/Windows 2008 R2 , the default account is called “ApplicationPoolIdentity” , so this is the account that needs the usual permissions on the website.  This account is not a "real" user account though. To add permissions for it on your website, you will need to open up Windows explorer and do the following:

• Right click the website folder and select "Properties"
• Select the "Security" tab
• Click the "Edit" and then "Add" button
• Click the "Locations" button and make sure you select your machine.
• Enter "IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool" in the "Enter the object names to select:" text box.
• Click the "Check Names" button and click "OK".
• You can now select the necessary permissions (typically read, write and modify permissions for the folder and all subfolders is the easiest permission to set)

Note: if you look in document/readme.txt you'll see a short set of install instructions including " - If using Windows 2008 R2 (IIS 7.5) or Windows 7 (IIS7.5) this is the IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool User Account."

Cathal

Changing the application pool identity to network service is fine, and will work perfectly well - asp.net doesn't care what account it runs under, only that the account has sufficent permissions. However, the DefaultAppPool identity has some benefits - first of all it's slightly more secure in that it provides an additional isolation layer between any websites that may share the same application pool, and secondly it can be used as a replacement for IUSR for anonymous users (and will add a secondary level of isolation i.e. you can ACL permissions to files for the anonymous user, but also require them to be accessing those files via a site running under a cetain app pool)

This is a little old, but still valid - http://blogs.iis.net/webtopics/archive/2009/03/13/changes-to-application-pool-identities-in-iis-7-5-beta.aspx

Cathal