Yes, I've actually tried that but I get this error (I have the "SiteSqlServer" and my other conn string both pointing to my .NET Membership Users database, though I guess only one would suffice if I understand correctly) when installing:

0:05 Minutes   |   23% ERROR occured - System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): There is already an object named 'vw_Users' in the database. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection. (SqlException exception...

And so the stack trace goes on.

Just to make sure I have this correct: Set "InstallMemberRole" to "False", set the "AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" to use my .NET Users database, and set the "SqlDataProvider" to use my .NET Users database. Then browse to the DNN site and run the install. For the Database Configuration before the install, I also entered my Users database.

I believe I have found a way to use my Users database and have DNN use it's own database. I just need to populate the "Users", "UserRoles", and "UserPortals" tables in the DNN database with relevant info from my Users database. I made a simple script to insert the necessary rows in the DNN db for a single user from my Users db and it worked perfectly. Of course the "Authorised" bit must be "True" in "UserPortals" table as well. Any new users that register should work fine, as I mentioned in my original post.

I'd rather not have to mess with SQL, but that is my only option so far, if I want to accomplish my goal.

Thanks much for the help! Any thoughts?

Hmmm, yes that is unfortunately what I am trying to do (use a separate database for DNN-related data and one for User data - password/username/profile/role/etc). I do realize that the DNN database does have User tables, though, I just wanted the "primary" db to be my Users db.

Yes sir, understood. I'm ambivalent on using a SQL stored procedure to (initially) transfer my Users to the DNN database's Users tables, but after testing it today it seems to work very well. It is guaranteed that new users will register and be added to my Users db, so I've created a trigger on the aspnet_Users table (yeah, not a huge fan of triggers) to insert relevant data into the DNN Users tables. So far so good. I'm ignoring Profile values/data for the time being but from what I understand, I would just need to do some parsing and conversions between the aspnet_Profile table in my Users db and the UserProfile table in the DNN db. Also, thanks for the tip re: SQL Profiler. I will double-check my work with it.

I really appreciate the help and quick responses Cathal :-)