Greetings,

We have moved a DNN 5.4.4 install from Windows Server 2003 to 2008r2. It has been a nightmare. I'm finally able to browse around the site, but both default and AD authentication are broken. I was able to get into admin by registering a new user and then assigning superuser rights in the database (SQL Server). I can do a default login with the new account.

I was also able to create a new portal with an AD user and do an AD login as that user. That leads me to believe that moving the database screwed up the user data (probably in the aspnet_users and asp_membership) tables.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I've seen references to SQL Server tools to compare schema and data but I no longer have a stable site to compare to! I'm considering deleting my users and creating now accounts for them. Can anyone suggest a batch method for this? Luckily I have admin rights to the hosting server and the database.

On a side note, I notice that the AD Authentication user guide says to assign only Windows Authentication to the windowssignin.aspx file. I find that IIS7.5 has locked the forms authentication feature on this file (I suppose due to the web.config forms authentication spec) and gets upset when I also assign Windows authentication. I'm assuming that this isn't my main problem since I CAN login with a new AD account...

Thanks for your help!
jerry 

Thanks for the reply, Mike.
I'm running in classic pipeline mode. Running in integrated mode threw me into an install loop. Every time the install finished (successfully) and I click the link to portal 0 the install process would start all over again.

You were right about the machine key. I returned it to its previous setting. That seems to have fixed the default DNN login but not AD.

I've enabled Windows Authentication on the WindowsSignin.aspx file. I can still login with my new AD account, although I get an error:
A critical error has occurred.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
The error isn't fatal, though.

I had a colleague try to login. He was thrown directly to the WindowsSignin page with a "bad credentials" error. Going back to the default page he was still unable to login.

I have both a DNN account and an AD account with matching credentials. Interestingly, when I attempt to login, it looks as if DNN is "rooling me over" to default authentication when AD fails. In fact, I even seem to be getting auto logged in in some cases even after shutting down and reopening the browser.

Again - I really appreciate your advice in this. I have 200 teachers waiting to edit their websites in preparation for the new school year!
Jerry