Howdy y'all,

Okay, well it's been a while since my last post and not with lack of anything to write about - instead I've just been too busy, and all round "tired".  Yes, in the physical sense, but also somewhat in the mental sense with all thats going on at work...

Yeah, I know my coworkers will find that funny because not so much is going on at work, but with my slight tendancy to stress things are not fun for the moment - but looking up! :)

Okay, now onto todays topic.

I've had the worst time getting Community Server to work on my local machine.  You'll have noticed that Mabster has skinned his site over, which is something I've been meaning to do for a long time (along with those 500 other projects I never get onto).

Well I decided to put Community Server onto my machine so I could play around and see what is indeed possible and I came up with an error message as follows:

The XML page cannot be displayed

Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later.

---

A name was started with an invalid character. Error processing resource 'http://localhost/cs/Default.aspx'. Line 1, ...

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>  -^

Okay, well that gives you the gist of it, the code might not be exact as I set up another script to mirror the issue.

I found some similar input on the Community Server forums:

http://communityserver.org/forums/thread/531227.aspx

http://communityserver.org/files/40/betareleases/entry506323.aspx

http://communityserver.org/forums/thread/521265.aspx

http://communityserver.org/forums/thread/511415.aspx

As well as this I sent off an issue to Telligent (or the Community Server site) team and got no response on this issue, or on the one that means I cannot actually log in to their forums (from two accounts I've set up - it's probably user error in some way, but I won't know since they haven't answered me).

I've been searching around for the solution and found a lot of mixed up responses all of which end with the advice: run "%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i"

This did not work for me, time and time again.

What I found out in my case was, there may have been a conflict with either:

1. I installed IIS after I installed the .NET Framework.
2. I installed the Atlas beta - which apparently has issues.
3. I have Zone Alarm.
4. Theres something wrong out there in the air that causes bugs in computers.

As I couldn't quite narrow it down I had to do some searching. 

What I did come up with, was that although the .NET framework was installed, and IIS could see it on my local machine - .aspx files were not mapped to my IIS file mappings.

You can find your mappings under:

Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services

then:

1. Right-Click on the Site you want.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Go to the "Directory" tab.
4. Click the "Configuration" button.
5. Go to the "Mappings" tab.
6. Look in the "Application Mappings" list.

If you do not see ".aspx" listed as a mapping, your IIS to .NET Framework mappings are not correct.

In this case, try to run the command: "%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i"

(You can do this from a command prompt or from the Start -> Run menu).

If that does not correct your mappings you may have to do what I did, which is uninstall IIS.

This becomes a bit more difficult, but I can assume if you're trying to install CS then you're probably not terrible with the computer thingy, right?

Have your Windows XP discs on standby!

You can uninstall IIS from:

Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs

1. Choose the: Add/Remove Windows Components button.
2. Click off Internet Information Services (IIS) checkbox.
3. Hit "Next" and proceed to uninstall.

Then reinstall IIS from exactly the same place - Add/Remove Windows Components.

Then run the script: "%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i"

Make sure your ASP .NET site is back in the IIS web sites menu, and you may want to make sure its got the icon for a website and not just a web folder.

If it doesn't, just go to the sites properties (Right-Click) and on the "Directory" tab, check to see if the "Application Settings" are filled in.  If they aren't there will be a "Create" button.

Hit that "Create" button, and then check the "Configuration" button that the mappings are all in there.

Test your ASP .NET page and it should, hopefully come up.

If they aren't - well, theres something else thats wrong and give me a holler and I'll try to help out where I can.  I would answer this issue on the Community Server forums, but see the above issue of them not telling me why I cannot log in :)

Note 1: You're version of the .NET Framework version may vary, check the c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework directory if the aspnet_regiis script doesn't work as I've stated.

Note 2: This issue isn't just to do with Community Server, but all ASP .NET pages you'll serve up on your IIS server - I've just posted it this way because it was Community Server I was trying to install (read: It's not a CS problem, it's a .NET and IIS problem).