ecktwo - I really appreciate your reply, but I don't understand your answer.  I would have thought my previous post proved the opposite - that since my scripts worked fine until I installed the DNN files, that ASP.Net was installed and working properly.  The two I am using now (which worked fine before the DNN files and give the same error afterward) are as follows:  (a) I am using the script at this link and posted by Nik Kalyani at the bottom of the page to verify my permissions are set up properly, and (b) I am using the script at this link to test to ensure my hosting company has the correct version of ASP.Net running on my account.

I am new to .Net, so I must be missing something - can you explain how my previous post proves ASP.Net is not properly installed?  What about the install is likely to be wrong, and what should I be telling my hosting provider to fix?  Is there a script I could use to test that ASP.Net is working properly?

cathal,  thanks but that does not help.  As I described in my original post, I tried that very solution without success.  I tried it as many ways as I could think of (replacing the web.config with the release.config from the Install download, as well as the release.config from the StarterKit download, and even doing a file-compare in my text editor between the file I was uploading as web.config and the original release.config just to make sure nothing was different except the database connection strings and the few other items I changed as instructed in the documentation).  I am not using the SourceCode download, so it is not a compilation problem.  Everything in Charles Nurse' post does not help - I have followed his instructions carefully and multiple times.

Are there any other reasons why this error might occur?  Anything I can systematically test to rule out other issues?