I have posted this on the DNN site but have received no replies and I am stuck as to how to further investigate the problem, without upgrading the DNN version. I completed the installation of a DNN site on Windows Server 2003. The version is 5.01.03 and I am using SQL Express. I installed the site with no errors (under default website port 80) and it loads and functions correctly. However when I went to add another alias to the portal no portal details are displayed at all for the site on the Host>Portals page. The page is rendered with headings but the portal id and other details are missing. The dropdown box on this page displays but the first 3 rows have icons and no text. I have logged into SQL Express and can see the portal data in both the Portal and Portal Alias tables. Also I tried and add a child portal to see if that displayed. The page to add this renders, but incompletely. Some of the field headings are missing; Portal Name, and all of the headings in the Security section. The icon to save/update says "Update" (insted of "create new portal" like the other installations and does not work. The cancel button does work. I have tried to reinstall the portal using a new download of same version code, with the same result. I have installed this version of code with no problems on 4 other servers. I have also tried to copy the directory DesktopModules>Admin>Portals from one of the other servers over the existing one that is giving me problems. No change. I have compared the data in the Alias table in SQL with another installation to see if there are any differences. None. Any help you can give to me resolve this without upgrading would be very helpful. Many thanks. Thanks for any help. M.

An entry in the portalalias table isn't a new portal.

I'm a little confused about what you are doing, and what you expect to see. Perhaps try asking the question differently.

Copying directories isn't sufficient to create a new portal. Most of the portal-specific information is stored in the database.

I agree with evrything you say. I have created a DNN portal. The portal works, all pages resolve to the correct url and render the data. I am not trying to add a new portal. The problem is that when I go to add a new alias for my existing portal in HOST>Portals, I do not see any of the data details for the Portal id of 0, ie Title, Portal Alias, Users etc. There is no pencil icon to edit this portal, either. So I cannot add another alias unless I edit the SQL table. I looked at the data in the SQL tables to see if something was wrong there, but all looks good compared to my other installations. I tried overwriting the files for the portal desktop module in case it was a corrupted file displaying the page. Also when I click on the "+" (Add New Portal) icon at the bottom of the Host>Portals page, this is the page that is also not displaying correctly. Field headings are missing in Portal Setup and Security Settings. This lead me to think that it was not a data problem but a corrupted page issue. I really appreciate your help sorting this one out. I could email screen shots, if that would explain the problem better. Thanks. M.

Try putting your screen shots in a zip file and attach it to your reply in the forum.

I have attached the zipped screenshots. There are 4 screen shots in the zipped file. The first 2 screen shots show a DNN portal where I am having problems. Screen shots 3 and 4 show the same DNN version on another server with correct detail. Screen Shot 1 Host>Portals page Missing Portal Details. Screen Shot 2 Add New Portal Page missing field headings. Screen Shot 3 & 4 Host>Portals page with correct information. Same DNN version installed on another server.

That is odd.  The only thing that I can suggest is that you switch the portal to the "standard" Minimal Extropy skin and see if the pages then work.  If so, this may indicate a skin or container issues.

I would also think about missing files or incorrect permissions, but I would think that you'd get site errors if that were the case.

The Aurora skin has no effect on the data. The problem was there straight after DNN install with the standard dnn skin. The correct permissions are in place I checked that also, and we had no problems with install which is what I would have assumed if it were permissions for Network Service or IUSR account. I also thought missing or corrupt files which is why I copied the directory for desktop modules from another site. It's very strange and I appreciate your help.

Those are all good to know.

As this seems to be a test site and you aren't too far along, perhaps a fresh install is what is needed.

We have re-installed 3 times. Twice by someone else and one by myself. I downloaded my own code and used winrar to unzip. The other person did a typical install and had the language problem I saw you reference in another post. I did a custom install and had no problems installing, but have the Host>Portal problem after install. I am reluctant to go to another version, as we have all of our sites on 5.01.03.