I want to use OData to make DotNetNuke modules. For that, I need ASP.NET 4.0. I develop on a Windows 7 computer using IIS7. My DotNetNuke website runs under ASP.NET 3.5. This is what I did to run it under ASP.NET 4.0:

1. Backup the Database and the files (yes really!)

2. Did you do #1? Seriously. Any problems can be fixed if you do #1.

3. Upgrade the site to the latest DotNetNuke (yes really, most of the earlier versions do not work with ASP.NET 4.0)

Upgrading to ASP.NET 4.0

So, we now have a DotNetNuke 5+ website that is still running ASP.NET 3.5. We now need to switch to ASP.NET 4.0

In IIS, right-click on the website and select Manage Application, then Advanced Settings…

Switch the Application Pool to ASP.NET 4.0.

Nor normally that would be it. When you run DotNetNuke, it will detect that you are running ASP.NET 4.0 and make the needed adjustments to the web.config (for this reason, never allow Visual Studio to upgrade a DotNetNuke site to ASP.NET 4.0, it will mess up the internal DotNetNuke upgrade process).

However, if you were running your site using an AppPool using NETWORK SERVICES as the Identity, you will want to set the security to use ApplicationPoolIdentity to avoid the error:

HTTP Error 404.2 - Not Found
The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the ISAPI and CGI Restriction list settings on the Web server.

So I followed this post by Cathal to fix that:

I right-clicked on the DotNetNuke directory in Windows Explorer (the file manager), and selected Properties. Then I clicked the Security tab, then clicked the Edit button.

I then click the Add button.

I enter “IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool” into the name search box and I click Check Names.

After the name is found, I click OK, then click OK on all the other open windows to close them.

Did you Get Here From A Search Engine?

I really did not want to write this blog because it’s going to become “search engine bait” for users having issues installing DotNetNuke and I am NOT an expert in that. Whenever people ask for help (and they can pay for assistance) I send them to: http://www.iowacomputergurus.com.

Note: If you have install problems, post a message in the forums at: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Forums/tabid/795/forumid/107/scope/threads/Default.aspx. If you post to this blog I will not be able to help you. Only post to this blog post if you have additional resources to help others. Thanks!