My DNN installation keeps going irreversibly offline every time I touch my SQLExpress installation. The first time this happened I had tried to connect the DNN database.mdb file to my SQLExpress server in order to take a look at table structures etc. Result I got the Site Under Construction page. Reading through the Forum I understood this is something I simply should not have done.... ok, I learned my lesson and reinstalled the whole DNN site (loosing all work done). Luckily this was only the local site... but nevertheless.

Yesterday I finally found the time to upgrade my crummy Sqlexpress server & toolkit to the SP2 version... result my site went offline again!!!

I tried using sp_configure to activate the use of instances but the result did not change... still have the whole thing offline. Is it somehow possible to recover from this type of error or is it fatal each and every time?

Thank you for your answer,

I've been trying to make this work but I've had more than a few problems...

I managed to make a new installation altogether (version 4.8) using the procedure you quoted and the install wizard.

I chose the Custom setup, Sqlexpress as a server, run as owner and nothing in the name of the database..

The scripts ran, I got the congratulations message but after clicking on the Goto site button I got this error. I tried reinstalling everything but got the same mistake...

I'm using the Source DNN pack... should I try with the Install?

Thank you in advance for your help

Edoardo

value cannot be null.
Parameter name: path1 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.ArgumentNullException: Il valore non può essere null.
Parameter name: path1

Source Error:

[ArgumentNullException: Il valore non può essere null.
Parameter name: path1]
   System.IO.Path.Combine(String path1, String path2) +2686595
   DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.SkinDefaults..ctor(SkinDefaultType DefaultType) +127
   DotNetNuke.Common.Globals.get_DefaultSkin() +31
   DotNetNuke.Entities.Portals.PortalSettings.GetPortalSettings(Int32 TabId, PortalAliasInfo objPortalAliasInfo) +2765
   DotNetNuke.Common.Globals.GetHostPortalSettings() +216
   DotNetNuke.Common.Globals.GetPortalSettings() +79
   DotNetNuke.Authentication.ActiveDirectory.HttpModules.AuthenticationModule.Init(HttpApplication application) +198
   System.Web.HttpApplication.InitModulesCommon() +66
   System.Web.HttpApplication.InitInternal(HttpContext context, HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers) +814
   System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetNormalApplicationInstance(HttpContext context) +243
   System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetApplicationInstance(HttpContext context) +106
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestInternal(HttpWorkerRequest wr) +340