I performed a DNN installation exactly according to the installation webinar.  I have installed DNN and setup an entire site, physically located at c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke.  In IIS 7.5, in the Default Web Site, I created an application named /dotnetnuke that refers to this physical path.  I can access the site just fine at http://localhost/dotnetnuke or http://www.mydomain.com/dotnetnuke (so both localhost/dotnetnuke and www.mydomain.com/dotnetnuke are listed as portal aliases).

I want to remove the "dotnetnuke" folder from the URL.  There are many solutions to this in many forums, and here's what I've tried without success:

1.) Tried to use the HostHeader parameter in web.config.  Unfortunately this has no effect - when I browse to http://localhost or http://www.mydomain.com IIS just delivers the c:\inetpub\wwwroot physical path, which just contains the default iisstart.htm file.  So the web.config or DNN stuff never gets touched.  I had added localhost and www.mydomain.com to the portal aliases.

2.) Tried changing the Default Web Site file location to be c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke (without the HostHeader change).  This results in a "This site is currently Unavailable  Please check back later" page at the moment.  I seem to recall in earlier troubleshooting this resulted in the install wizard appearing.  I had added localhost and www.mydomain.com to the portal aliases.

3.) Tried physically moving all the donetnuke folder contents up to c:\inetpub\wwwroot.  This results in a "This site is currently Unavailable  Please check back later" page at the moment.  I had added localhost and www.mydomain.com to the portal aliases.


So, in short, what is the *official* procedure to remove the dotnetnuke directory from the URL for users who followed the install webinar exactly?

Sure, a simple answer is "don't follow the install webinar and, if your host situation allows, install to some root path".  But there are additional questions then, like how to configure the Application in IIS (can't use a root path?).  And in my case, starting over with a new install like that wasn't an option.

So far I've worked around this entire thing with a complicated set of IIS URL ReWrite rules, based largely on the rules posted here:

http://forum.winhost.com/showthread.php?t=8565

I've made some changes of my own to those rules, however.  I still have not configured it to make the Host and Admin URLs look pretty.

But there should be some other more straightforward approach for people in my situation (followed install webinar exactly, completed site design, and want rid of the folder in URL).