Hi guys, try this:

Delete all past DNN folders. Do -not- try and copy an old web.config to save time either. hehehe ;)

If you have ever encountered any wierd error messages when installing SQL, SQLE, SQL Serv. Manager, VS x, VWD and .net 2.0 framework, then please uninstall all of them and surf over to microsoft to get the -latest- versions of the downloadable components. This is important as many of the links from other possible solutions in forums actually point to different release versions of SQLE, .Net and VWD. They clash with each other, and with DNN 4.0.2

Having installed all of the core requirements successfully without any errors. REBOOT. I know this sounds patronising, but i've found that this step allows the OS to finalise any updates to the system. Also, never ever multitask when installing the core components. The .Net framework gets finicky if not paid full attention during birth.

Grab DNN 4.0.2 Starter Kit and follow the instructions in the InstallationGuide.pdf in DNN_Docs downloadable.

Create a new DNN website and chunk it into Visual Studio/Websites/xxxxx as shown in the .pdf . Inetpub/wwwroot is a little more fussy with inherited NTFS permissions, whereas VS/Websites/xxxxx will have fresh untainted permissions from the new VWD installation. Do choose File System instead of Http for now. This eliminates the need to worry about IIS configurations for your first successful DNN installation.

Okay, so we've encountered welcome.html. Step 1 - Configure a website database.

SQLExpress users - do not make the mistake of creating a db manually using SQL Server Management Studio. Follow the steps in SQLServerXpressConfig.html which is linked from welcome.html . I've found that this is the place most 'experienced' users fall into the trap after reading these lines :

Before you can install DotNetNuke, you need to create/configure a Database.  The default connection string provided assumes that you will be using a SQL Server 2005 Express database file called Database.mdf.

Data Source=.\SQLExpress;
Integrated Security=True;
User Instance=True;
AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;  

If you would like instructions on creating this Database file then see SQL Server 2005 Express Configuration.

VWD creates the database file for you in the correct location if you follow the steps in the link. Suprisingly, database.mdf doesnt show up in Management Studio after a successful installation of DNN. Also keep the default name of database.mdf when installing for the first time. This removes the need to mess around with code in web.config later.

Web.Config - welcome.html tells you to edit the lines


(Will someone in the development team PLEASE update these images!! name=DotNetNuke  is wrong and very misleading to first time installers who are following your instructions exactly.)

Leave it as name=SiteSQLServer and key=SiteSQLServer , otherwise you will get "object is not defined" errors later in web.config , when references are made to the SiteSQLServer variable. Since we left the default database name as database.mdf earlier on, we can safely leave web.config alone, totally.

SQL200x users - as mentioned in another forum post, do check the comment tags around connectionString and appSetting

<connectionStrings>

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

<!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2000/2005 -->
<add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Server=(local);Database=DotNetNuke;uid=;pwd=;"providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

Pay close attention to where the " --> " tags are. Change Database=DotNetNuke to whatever you named it in SQL200x and fill in the uid= and pwd= variables. Theres another thread that tells you how to remove the need for uid and pwd in web.config but lets stick to basics first since we're having problems getting it installed properly.

Skip the part about configuring IIS, since we chose File System when first creating a New DNN site earlier on.

Set your NTFS permissions properly. No need to go overboard by setting all the parent folders to Full Control.
- right click your DNN folder,
- select Properties
- select the Security tab
- choose Add
- you'll find that Network Service and ASPNet accounts arent there, click on Advanced
- heres another another longer page titled Select Users and Groups, click on Find Now
- a long list of accounts should appear. Choose NETWORK SERVICE (not NETWORK) for win2003 or ASPNET for win2000
- click OK
- the account has now been added to the list of users tied to this folder. check on Full Control, making sure the account  name you just added selected.

Choose a Site Template - again, DNN Devs please update this! Its quite frustrating to be told about something that isnt included in the install package or starter kit for 4.0.2.  What makes it worse is that the link to TemplateConfig.html shows me this

---------------------------
Configuring the Install Template for DotNetNuke

This section includes more detailed information on how to configure the install template for  DotNetNuke.

1. .

Back to Welcome page.

---------------------------

Grrr.. >,.<


Install DotnetNuke by pressing ctrl-F5 but STOP! please save your web.config first before hitting the build switch. Many people would have release.config open in another tab in VWD while reading Welcome.html, and its suprising how many people forget to save their new changes in web.config.

Done all that ? ok, take a deep breath, close all your other app windows and hit ctrl-F5.
Let the computer grind for a bit (longer if you only have 256MB Ram) and wait for IE to open up with install.aspx. Let that page grind thr ua bit more and hopefully you should be presented with the Home Page of your new portal. Congratulations!

If you ever hit a 'module could not be loaded' message, then just refresh the page. Some computers choke at the last minute after so much processing. Refreshing the home page will load properly with the sample text and images already in the modules.

Good luck folks!

Sorry for the newbie-ness here, but where is SolutionExplorer found? 

(per the image in SQLServerXpressConfig.html) 

Is it a feature of VSx or VWD?

I didnt think I needed to have VSx or VWB installed to be able to install DNN. 

Is there another way to create Database.mdf? 

Thanks in advance,

Darin

I'm kinda sick of Sql Server connection strings, to tell you the truth.

Is it, or is it not, necessary to supply a user name and password in the connection string? DNN seems to want it but if I am not mistaken, the preferred method is to have the APP run as a particular USER (an ISS setting) and have THAT login authorized for your database.

Two approaches?

Have a Sql Server login authorized to hit on you mdf and specify THAT user/password in your connection string, or,

Have an MS user account authorized to hit on your mdf and specify that user/password in your IIS settings for the site.

But guess what - unless you know the esoteric combination of all of the settings of Sql Server, IIS, etc, you don't have a prayer of getting it to actually work. People on this list report success by GUESSING the right combo! Unbelievable!

There are either too many possible combinations or too few predictable combinations that work. I think someone needs to supply - not publish - a predictable combination that works. As it is, DNN comes with a "pretty useful" pair of connection strings that work a lot of the time, but frustrate the H* out of the rest of us.