Copy the entire root directory to your dev server. Make sure you place it in the exact location I.e. c:/inetpub/www root/dotnetnuke.

Create an entry in I is that matches your production server.

Create a database with the same name and login account, back up your production database and restore it on your dev database server.

Update the web.config file so that the connection string points to the dev db server instead of the production server.

Mark

Mark, thank you for answering my question. I really appreciate it. We will certainly use that information in the future. In the meantime, we found out this morning that part of the problem was that the entries in the PortalAlias table the dnn6database used for the test server were referencing the production box instead of the test server. Once those entries were updated to reference the test server, that took care of most of the problems with the test server. I looked through this table when I was trying to resolve the issue but completely missed it. Another, more seasoned developer who has no experience with DNN, found the table and updated it within 30 minutes. Learning a new development tool can be excruciatingly painful. Thank you all for your responses and patience with regard to my questions.