DNN Upgrade

[RFH Reseller: heavenlyarts]

Can anyone advise how easy it is to upgrade DNN, and how to do it.

I am technical but a DNN thickie

[Tanzy]

What version of DNN do you currently use and what version are you going to upgrade to?

[RFH Reseller: heavenlyarts]

I'm currently on 4.0.3
wanting to upgrade to the latest stable release that works with RED FOX.

[Tanzy]

Below is a post that I made a while ago about upgrading DNN should still be valid. Not upgraded for a while.

OK I will try to do this step by step.

1. Make a complete backup of your site & SQL Database via RFH Backup facility
2. Rename the web.config file to web.config.version (this is so that we can take the machineKey information after we update). Note without this key you will not be able to log in
3. Upload DNNversion over the top of your current DNN version
4. edit the release.config file contained at the root of the installation. Update the SiteSqlServer key to be the correct SQL Server connection for your database
5. Update the machineKey so that the values are the same as you had in your old config file (the one that we renamed web.config.version) NOTE: if you don't do this then you will not be able to log in
6. In HELM set your website to use .Net 2 (This should already be set if you are using DNN 4.xx
7. rename the release.config file to web.config
8. Browse to your website via a web browser, the installation should occur
9. At the bottom of the installation you should see a link to your portal, click this and everything should be OK

NOTE: If after step 9 you get a message Nothing to install at this time or something similar (I can't remember the exact message) do the following

1. Edit your web.config file
2. In the <appSettings> section of the config file add the following key
3. <add key="InstallationDate" value="1/17/2006" />
4. Make sure that the value is a date before the date you installed the new version.
5. Navigate to the root of your site again, hopefully, everything shoudl be fine now.

If you have any problems drop me a PM and I can try to help you more, what is the error that you are getting for your site at the moment. It may be possible to get it back up and running again. If you want I can try to take a look.