I've looked all over the forumns, and I've read the PDF documents, but I'm unable to install DNN.  Here's my setup:

1. Win XP Pro (SP2 and ASP.net 2.x)
2. SQL Express 2005
3. IIS 5 (Comes with XP Pro)
4. I'm trying to install DNN 3.02
   

When trying to connect to localhost/DotNetNuke, I'm redirected to this page:

http://localhost/DotNetNuke/Install/Install.aspx?mode=none

On this page I'm given this error message:

Error Installing DotNetNuke
Current Assembly Version: 03.02.02
ERROR: Could not connect to database specified in connectionString for SqlDataProvider

I've tried all kinds of tweaking with the connection string (web.config).  And I've tried tweaking things using MS SQL Studio Manager Express, but I can't figure out what I did wrong.

Here are my steps:

Setup Database

1. First I downloaded SQL Studio Manager Express from MS.  I'm not sure what the alternative would have been, command line?  Yikes.
   
2. Using this tool I created a new database called, DotNetNuke.  I left the owner filed as <default>
3. Next I created a new login user named nuke. NOTE: This option is under the "Security" menu at the root level.  There are multiple "Security" links.  Make sure you're at the root level. From there you can right click and select "New Login".  I selected "SQL Server Authentication" and entered my password.  I also changed the default database to DotNetNuke.
4. Finally I added nuke login to the database and set the ownership permissions.  I did this by navigating to "Security" under the DotNetNuke database and right clicking to create new user.  I set "Owned Schemas" and "Role Members" to db_owner.

Configured The Server

1. Placed all of the DNN files into: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke
2. Using ISS I created a new virtual directory called: DotNetNuke
3. I made some changes to my new virtual directory by right clicking and going to properties.
• Virtual Directory (TAB) >> Execute Permissions - I changed this to Scripts and Executables.
• Documents (TAB) >> Enable default documents - I added default.aspx
• Directory Security (TAB) >> Anonymous authentication control >> Edit.  I checked the anonymous box and changed the user to MACHINENAME\ASPNET.
• ASP.net (TAB) >> ASP Version - I changed this to version 2.x (NOTE: I installed IIS after ASP.NET 2.x was already on my machine.  As a result IIS wasn't recognizing .aspx files.  To fix this issue I went to add remove programs and selected ASP.net 2.0 and ran repair.  That fixed the problem)
• ASP.net (TAB) >> Edit configuration >> "SiteSqlServer" >> Edit - I updated this string with my SQL information: Server=local;Database=DotNetNuke;uid=***;pwd=*****;
  

Set Permissions

I'm not sure if I did this correctly.  But bascially I found the DotNetNuke directory, right clicked the folder and went to properties and then security.  From here I added a new user called MACHINE\ASPNET.  This is the same user that ASP.net uses under IIS (see above).  I gave this new user Full control.

I left the other options under web.config the same.  That's pretty much it.  It doesn't work and I'm not sure where it's breaking.

I'm new to ASP.net and everything related to it (IIS, SQL, etc.).  I'm migrating from apache/php/mysql to .net because I love the features of DNN and there are more opportunities for programmers who know .net.  So far it's been an uphill battle getting things configured.  The web.config file is really intimidating to a newbie.  I've installed many open source projects, but I've never seen an config file with so many options.  I guess it will be nice once I understand .net and DNN.

Thank you for your help.

Thank you for the reply.  I didn't realize that I needed to make more changes because of the differences in ASP.net 2.x.  I read further down in the install guide and there was mention of an additional connection string parameter.  I wasn't too sure how to implement this, so I decided to go ahead with installing DNN 4.02.

Comparing the web.config file from DNN 4.02 to DNN 3.02, it's easy to see the changes in the connection string.  By default the web.config file includes a connection string for SQL Express.  However the install guide doesn't explain how to modify this string to match your configuration.  After several attempts and some research on the internet, I came across this post. I was able to install DNN 4.02 using the connection string provided in this example.

<add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Database=DotNetNuke;User ID=myusername;Password=mypassword;Connection Timeout=5" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

Are there security issues associated with connecting to the SQL server using this syntax rather than the one provided with the DNN download?

Thanks for your help.

I've been struggling with this too and just saw this post.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but I don't see how you expect people to go from what's in the release.config file that ships in the Install package in 4.0.2:

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

to what's really needed according to the various posters:

connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;DataBase=DotNetNuke;User ID=myname; Password=mypwd;Connection Timeout=5;"

We may be ignorant but we're not dumb!  :)