Hi. I've installed the latest version of DNN on my dev box and I got it working OK there. Then I installed the Active Directory module and it seems to be working but when I put the site on IIS, I can't reach it. It acts like the page doesn't exist. I've done a lot of tweaking to try and get it to work so I'm not sure what I changed to be honest with you but here's the situation:

When I run the site from VWD 2005, I get the home page but with no graphics or styles. The graphic files are there and viewing the source I can see that it's pointing to the correct folders, but nothing is showing up on the page.

When I try to upload and connect to the site in IIS using a host header (servicedesk), I get a page can't be found error. Nothing at all there. But I can see other files like http://servicedesk/images/banner.gif.

I've got a host header setting in the web.config that corresponds to the correct header. I know the header is set up right in DNS because I can reach the site on IIS if I replace the home page with a simple HTML page. But if I try to use the default.aspx, it says it can't find it. This is especially strange because I would expect the host header setting in web.config to break my local instance and not the IIS instance...

If I remove the host header setting in web.config, then nothing comes up on my local machine. I get the same page not found error.

Any idea what would cause this?

Yep it is there. I double-checked and it looks like I was backwards on the host header setting (which now makes sense) - it breaks the local copy if I set it to "servicedesk" like it should. The local instance is still not loading graphics or styles but strangely it is loading the icons for the "Users Online" box.

This will load OK: http://localhost:1570/ServiceDeskDNN/DesktopModules/UsersOnline/uoGroup3.gif.

But this will not: http://localhost:1570/ServiceDeskDNN/Portals/0/logo.gif.

When I try and view that second image directly in the browser on my local instance, I get:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source Error:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   DotNetNuke.Authentication.ActiveDirectory.Configuration.GetConfig() +49
   DotNetNuke.Authentication.ActiveDirectory.HttpModules.AuthenticationModule.OnAuthenticateRequest(Object s, EventArgs e) +250
   System.Web.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +92
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +64

Oops hang on a sec - I removed the host header setting from web.config and now the site comes up! I guess the alias was all I needed. But now the production site is not logging me on like the dev site does. In fact I can't log on at all. When I do, it just takes me back to the home page as if I was logged in but the register and login links are still there and none of the admin menus are visible...

I'm close... It works perfectly on my dev box... Any ideas?