Okay. Now I found a post saying I needed to move config/dotnetnuke.config to the root. Which I did. And received this error:

Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\myname\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\WebSites\DotNetNuke_04.05.05_Source\Website\Config\Backup_20078241623\web_.config'.

It actually displays a dotnetnuke icon, which is somewhat helpful. It tells me to set the file permissions on the folder. Just for fun I gave NetWork Service, AspNet and IUSR_TIna full access to the folder and all subfolders. Just to cover any bases. (Im running xp pro with IIS 5.1.)

Now what? I'm not finding anything on the web or on the forums at this point. Complete dead standstill.

I hear your frustration, and I'd love to help if I can.  I do have a few questions for you, and perhaps after thinking this through yourself this may stimulate your thoughts on what may be the problem and lead to a solution.

First, what is your environment?  OS, IIS, ASP.NET, SQL, DNN versions including applied service packs.  Second, would you please confirm this is a new DNN installation that has never worked.  Third, could you provide a little info regarding your installation (i.e. I used the install files, I did not compile the source even though I downloaded it) and perhaps a summary of the steps used to install DNN?

When you say ASP.NET 2.0 is working, do you have a tiny test site (i.e. something non-DNN) you can run just to test?  When I installed .NET 2.0, I thought the install was fine.  I could select the appropriate ASP.NET version for the DNN site virtual directory, and I could even browse my test web page (really a simple html page with straight text that says just testing...).  I knew my html file was not testing ASP.NET...

Is there any chance you might entertain the idea of starting from scratch?  Can you think of a way to isolate this problem (i.e. is it an IIS permissions issue, something with ASP.NET, something specific to DNN, etc).

Please let me know, Dan. :)