Thanks for the inside scoop on whats going on...
I thought i was loosing my mind.
I also tried to restart application and unfortunataly DNN did not recognize any files copied to Portal 0
However.....
Through Trial and Error i think i found a work-a-round. As a designer, i have to have this working to test new skin ideas on the fly...
Here are the steps....
1) Login as a Super User
2) Select Admin>Skins
3)Select Upload Skin (Just use some old skin zip file as you can delete it later)
4)This creates a Skin folder under portals 0 which includes the basic temporary skin you just uploaded.
5)NOW copy or clone any previouly extracted files from Portals _default to Portals 0
6)NOW you can go to Host or Admin and select Site settings then Appearance and select Site radio button You will see the New Copies of skins moved to Portals 0
7) At this stage you can delete the basic skin folder. From here on out you'll have the freedom of moving folders back and forth to portals 0 as you test and modify them for portal 0 on the fly
Again this may not be the best way, but as a designer sometimes you may want to refine your skins under different portals on the fly instead of re-uploading an entire skin packages and start over with hit and mis refinements for different portals all over again.
It appears that as the previous posts brought to my attention for security reasons which i understand, in recent versions of DNN, it needs something establishted in the database that there is a new skin under Portals 0
I do understand the security changes...I just hope this work-a-round i've found stays for a while. And future changes don't hender my on the fly design processes.
Thanks for all the tips and info from everyone...
Very much appreciated.