I installed dotnetunke v4.5.3 on my machine and while I was playing with it the portal went funny or corrupt i.e. is stopped allowing me to login.

I then deleted all the files and reinstalled sql, dotnetnuke v4.5.3, etc. but the progrmme is not loading on at the brower stage.

It is giving me error messages as follows.

Server Error in '/DNN_453' Application.

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Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: An error occurred loading a configuration file: Access to the path 'C:\DotnetNuke sites\DNN_453\web.config' is denied.

Source Error:

[No relevant source lines]

Source File: C:\DotnetNuke sites\DNN_453\web.config    Line: 0

Please help.

Is there a web.config file in the root directory of the website?

Yes I have a file called web.config on my root directory. What would you like me to do with it? Please advise

Please take a look at that file in a text editor such as notepad. You should also compare the contents of the file with the file release.config that you should also find in the directory. You should expect to find that web.config is nearly the same as release.config.

The error message that you quoted seems to indicate that there is nothing in web.config.

Oh ... ALWAYS make backup copies of any files before editing them, even if you don't plan to make changes.  ALWAYS.  In fact, it's probably a really good idea to also make a backup copy of web.config after you've made changes.  Then you'll have before, active, and backup copies.

I have now managed to revive the site but I am locked out of it because it does not accept any login names and passwords. Even the default ones do not work. Please advise on how I can go past the system so that I can reset the login details again and get the site working. I am using dotnetnuke v4.5.3 Looking forward to hearing from you Nalin

Before doing anything, make backup copies of your web directory AND your DotNetNuke database.  If you do, you can always return to this starting point.

If none of your known username/password combinations works, then I would guess that you don't have the right machineKey settings in your web.config file.  Keepking a good copy of the machineKey settings is an absolute necessity when working with DotNetNuke.

If you have a copy of the web.config file that was created when your first started the site, you'll need to copy those settings to your current web.config.

If you don't have those settings, you might not have any choice other than to start over.

If you start over, you'll want to keep a copy of your current DotNetNuke database file.  You may be able to copy data from that database to your new one, once you get the new one working.

Create a new database, DNN_NEW, and then edit your web.config file to use it and not the old one.

This is probably a good time to suggest -- before you do anything else -- that you take a deep breath, relax, and spend some time reviewing some of the really great tutorials that DNN Creative provides.  I would suggest that you review all of these before doing anything else:

An Introduction to the Principles of DotNetNuke

Quick Start Guide to DotNetNuke

Basic Introduction to Working with Pages in DotNetNuke

How to optimize an image before uploading it to your website

Working with Images in DotNetNuke

Beginners html guide for DotNetNuke

How to adjust your Nameserver settings

Installing DotNetNuke 3.2 to a website hosting provider

There are other tutorials that will be useful, too.  Browse the DNN Creative site to find more with titles that seem appropriate.