i created a new portal, logged in as admin, used file manager to upload an image. dnn said:

An Error Has Occurred When Attempting To Save The File C:\inetpub\wwwroot\directory\Portals\2\logo.gif. Please Contact Your Hosting Provider To Ensure The Appropriate Security Settings Have Been Enabled On The Server.

logging in as host didn't help either.

does anyone know what is required to upload an image? obviously there is much more server configuration needed to create a useable portal than merely creating it.

maybe i created the site incorrectly but i first created a parent portal in dnn 5.4. then i created an iis7.5 site whose settings is to the host portal's directory. dnn then maps requests for the domain to the new portal. that seems to work fine.

therefore, the same apppool which i use for the host is used for the new portal. the host portal has no problems uploading files. hence the problem has to be with how dnn created the directory structures for the new portal, or there is a problem with dnn - not with the os or iis.

there is one thread where the responder gives some decent things to check for this problem - which is rather pervasive - but none of it applies to my scenario since i am compliant with those recommendations.

and there is the ubiquitous, "check for rights" yet the advice is not helpful without specific rights for which to check. i am still stumped. i had to go to the server to copy files which is a total kludge. and the error message is so vague as to nearly useless. why would an admin user have rights problems to his own portal?

yes, i was using the new app pool created by iis rather than the one of my host portal. changing to the host portal apppool solved the problem

now whether i have followed best practices in this regard is another matter for which i am open to feedback. should i have used the new applicationpoolidentity? if so, i can never seem to add that to the security properties of the directory because it is not an option yet somehow it appeared for my root/host portal.