Hi Darrel,

I meant to write this up for your other post, but I ran out of time yesterday. It's no simple task to install or upgrade DNN for the first time. Once you know all the details, it's a snap of course. I recommend taking notes as you go, because you'll be doing it over and over again at the start. I took notes myself, and that's why I can give you them here.

I suggest starting over and doing it from scratch rather than wasting time troubleshooting. The install should go smoothly and if there is trouble then something is wrong with the install.. so just start over.

This installs DNN to a subfolder of your WH4L account. This will allow you to carry out work in other folders on your account whilst the DNN site is present. The information I've given is for performing a fresh installation, but most of it also applies to performing an upgrade.  [CP] means that you do the operation in the WH4L Control Panel.

• [CP] Create a folder for your site on your account.
• [CP] Install/set up your domain on WH4L, with email service if required.
• Redirect DNS servers for your domain to the ones listed in your WH4L panel for the new domain
• [CP] Redirect domain to the site folder
• [CP] Set permissions with on the folder and subfolders (even tho not present yet) as follows:
  • NETWORK SERVICE = RWXD
• [CP] Set .Net application to ASP.Net 2.x for the new domain
• [CP] Create new MSSQL Database - Use SQL2005 only if SQL2000 is not available
  • Name = yourdbname
  • ID = yourdbusername
  • Pass = yourdbpass
  • Take note of the server address sqlxxx.mysite4now.com
• Remove the web.config file from the DNN Install.zip - We'll use the release.config
• Upload the "DNN Install" files to the folder - You can upload it as a zip via ftp and then use the Control Panel's File Manager to unzip it to your new folder.
  • This is vital: [CP] Set NETWORK SERVICE = RWXD again on all files and folders.
    But beware the caveat of the shared hosting account!:  Doing this procedure via the hosting control panel will likely time out. When it has finished, scroll all the way down the page to see if it gave an error. The workaround is to do it for each subfolder and root file individually, or even better, put in a support ticket asking them to do it. You will have to explain that it times out, because the typical response is that you can do it yourself in the panel. No matter how many times you go through this, they will still come up with that response. 
• Open release.config file for editing (either local or remote if your ftp app allows)
• Set AutoUpgrade = false (search for "autoupgrade" in the file)
• Find the <connectionStrings> and <appSettings> sections
• Comment out, (using <!-- section -->) the SQL Server 2005 Express or SQL Server 2000 section that is not going to be used. One of these is commented out by default. 

• Set customErrors mode="Off" (Search for "customErrors" in the file)
• Rename release.config to web.config
• Trigger the installation by opening: http://yourdomain.com/Install/Install.aspx?mode=Install
• Watch that the update goes smoothly
• If it fails, the error will display and you can paste it in a forum post.
  • Go back over the steps above and ensure you have not missed anything.
• If it works, then sign in and change the passes for the Admin and Host accounts.
• Look in your WH4L control panel for the email server name:
  • In DNN menu: Host settings, Advanced settings, SMTP server settings
    SMTP server: serverxxxxx.mysite4now.com
    SMTP Authentication: Basic
    Username: your control panel username
    Password: your control panel  password

I can't stress enough how important it is to set and reset the correct DNN file permissions. Most file management operations... uploading, zipping, moving, renaming, etc. will upset your permissions and I have come to believe that this is one of the biggest causes of DNN problems. This is compounded by the difficulty in setting them reliably on a shared hosting account.

Regards,
Rob

Rob,

Thank you for taking the time to help out a total stranger with my install/upgrade problems. I have been beating my head against the wall with this stuff since I am new to the DNN world and your right I have been trying different things over and over again. On my local machine I can setup a new install from scratch in about 5 mins. But, it is another ballgame when you are dealing with a remote server. But thanks to people like you who are willing to help others in need I am becoming less frustrated  and more excited about what I am learning. So, on behalf of all of use newbees to DNN Thank you very much for lending a helping hand.