If you can't set up the software, you need to first make sure the forum folder is set as an Application first. We need to do this because the software needs to use its own web.config and bin folder. I will show you what it looks like when the folder is marked correctly below:
NOTE: The folder names appear on the screenshots above are just some examples. You can name your folder with any name you like.
IIS 6: 
IIS 7: 
Make sure the server is set up as the above screen shots.
If you still cannot get past the first step in the setup program, you can check out the error log folder
~/upfiles/logs/ In this folder, you should see files with such name
2008.07.18-500.xml . If you do not see any error files, you probably didn't set up the folder permission correctly and the forum software is unable to write logs.
See this article to set up the folder permission required before trying to set up the software.
Open these xml logs using either IE or Wordpad, and you should be able to see the
<Details> of the error(s).
Report these errors to our support forum and I will help you solve the problem. Alternatively, you can also
attach the file with your report. DO NOT COPY PASTE the content of the xml file into the editor, as this will become very hard to read.
The following are the most common issues encountered during the setup/upgrade process:
- You are not using SQL 2005 / 2008
- SQL Server was not set up to allow remote connection
Click to see the Solution
If the error log shows a line like the following:
this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections.
you will have to enable remote connection on your SQL server. See
this link for more info.
- Your site root web.config has some settings that conflict with the software.
- On IIS 7, your host does not allow HTTP Compression to be managed by the application
Click to see the Solution
The error log shows a line like the following:
Http-Error 500.19 Module DynamicCompressionModule this configuration can't be used because it is blocked. The reason for this is in the web.config file provided with the forum software. There is the tag:
<urlCompression doStaticCompression="true" doDynamicCompression="true"/>
So, the software comes with a "gzip/deflate compression" enabled setting.
However, in some server configurations this particular setting is set
NOT to allow making changes on this attribute at the Application level configuration file.
You have to allow this by edit the
applicationHost.config file locatedunder
\windows\system32\inetsrv\config. Open the file with a text editor andsearch for:
<section name="urlCompression" overrideModeDefault="Deny" />
change "Deny" to "Allow" and you can proceed.
Alternatively, you can remove the urlCompression line in the software's web.config file.
- You are using the browser on YOUR SERVER to try to set up the software
Click to see the Solution
Browsers on the server often are limited in terms of functionality due to server security reasons, and therefore always have trouble running AJAX enabled application.
Please do not use the function limited browser on your server to try to set up the forum. Connect to your server from your own desktop and use the uncrippled version of your browser (IE / Firefox / Chrome....) to run the setup program again.
- SQL Server login failure
Click to see the Solution
If you see error like
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Login failed for user 'Samuel'
in the log file, it means the account you use for the forum connection was not set up properly. It is either a) the user was not set up in the SQL server b) the connection string you specified in web.config is wrong
<message edited by Samuel on Thu. Jan 20, '11 10:52 AM>