No its not impossible - what I saying is there is very few good reason for doing so.

It adds overheads to your development project which are simply not needed plus some potential versioning issues if not handled properly.

The main reason for that is that DNN has been effectively split into a number of unique elements which operate at runtime from compiled dlls AND a separate web application that actually handles the presentation layout.

But ok - go back to basics first.

1. did you unprotect the ZIP file before you unpacked it.

2. did you compile the SOURCE in RELEASE mode before your first attempt to launch the web site.
If you compile the SOURCE project in DEBUB mode none of the core dll library will be prepared correctly.

Westa