Wow, I've just spent about 6 hours trying to upgrade my DNN site from version 4.04 to 5.05.  I made the most progress with a clean install of DNN 5.05 pointing at my database.  Even this approach I had to run the database upgrade over and over before it succeeded, and even then only when I ran it with debugging enabled.  I did not have to debug anything, but it finally succeeded when I enabled debuggin.

Still, the site does not work.  It fails to load modules on most every tab.  My major disappointment is that I made almost no customizations to DNN.  I did this intentionally so that my future upgrades would be smooth and easy.  But it appears that so many components, basic components, are obsolete and not upgraded that I will not be able to get this to work.

So, I can either start over with DNN 5.05 and re-enter my page data; or just create a static site or use a CMS like Drupal.  I don't recommend anyone try to do upgrades from older releases because there are just too many incompatibilities.  The only modules I used were HTML modules and menus.  Those basics won't upgrade.  So, do I risk starting over with DNN 5.05 and just hope that it will be upgradable to future versions?  I guess I will make that decision tomorrow. 

This email is just a warning based solely on my experience with DNN.

Of course, ALL DotNetNuke 4 versions are based on ASP.Net 2.0 and may run on .net 3.0 and 3.5 as well, while DNN 5.2.0 and above require at least ASP.Net 3.5 SP1 (and SQL Server 2005 or above). However, as previously stated, you cannot upgrade in a single step, I strongly suggest upgrading via 4.6.2 and 4.9.5 - only the first step requires manual adoption of web.config file, for details you may want to check out my checklist: http://www.deutschnetnuke.de/tabid/186/Default.aspx

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Cheers from Germany,
Sebastian Leupold

   

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