I am having almost an identical problem.  I have sucessfully installed DNN v3 on a couple of servers, and have installed DNN v4 on one; this was a fresh install on a server that has never had DNN on it.  At first, after completing the installation (DNN v3.3.7, chosen for migrating a site that will be later upgraded), I clicked on the "Click here for your new portal" link and (because my permissions did allow directory browsing) I actually was sent to the /Install folder.  I've tried quite a few things but I cannot  see any problem.  I also verified that an actual default tabid was created and tried to navigate to it directly (as in "..\Default.aspx?tabid=1)... but it then sent me to a non-page in the install directory (very odd, "..\install\?tabid=1", no page, just parameters!)  I have control over the server, so I can modify settings... when I backed off the security to a normal install, I got the same error indicated, above (403, but importantly it is the IIS standard 403 not the DNN custom 403 error page). I reviewed the contents of the Default.aspx, suspecting a problem there, no luck. 

Any help would be apprecitated :-)

-- JTS <><

Hi Mitchel,

It's funny, the very first time I start thinking "Ah, I already thought of that - I'm getting beyond freshman mistakes", I get reminded that seniors one year become freshmen then next if they only choose to keep learning!  There is still a problem, but I also made a stupid mistake in my last post.

OK - first of all, I want to say thanks for the post.  I had already checked my security settings and default document in IIS before posting, so that's not it (at least, not on the surface, I may be missing something).  I had also already tried to navigate directly to the localhost/dnn/install/install.aspx page but got the same result (e.g. before I turned off directory browsing, I saw the /Install directory, after I changed security, I got the 403).  The mistake I made was the tabID!  The default starting page is not TabID 1 (although it is TabORDER 1), it is TabID=36.  So, when I navigate to localhost/dnn/default.aspx?tabid=36, then I see DotNetNuke and can log in as normal - anything that requires hitting the root (such as when you log out or navigate to the site without the correct tabID) results in a 403.  It does appear to be some kind of security setting, but not an obvious one.

To the original post contributor: Open your database.  Go to the Tabs table.  Find where PortalID=0 (the default installation) and there should be 2 tabs (Home and Search).  Find the tabID for home (I'll bet a soda it's tabid=36, but if I'm wrong you have to pay shipping on the can).  Then navigate specifically to [root]/Default.aspx?tabid=[N] and see if your application comes up.  If so, then we probably have the same problem.

Regards,

-- JTS <><