You can have your very own DNN running on your laptop in minutes. Well, the first time it takes a bit longer because you need to set up some things...But this can be done without technical knowledge.

There are a number of different ways you can go about installing DotNetNuke, and which route you take will depend on the platform and software you are using.Before you get to the Installation itself, you should probably check out the Installation Requirements

DotNetNuke Installation requirements

With the release of DotNetNuke 7, the system requirements have changed. For an official list of requirements, visit the System Requirements page.

DotNetNuke Installation Scenarios

INSTALLING DOTNETNUKE USING SQL SERVER 2005 / 2008 / 2008R2 / 2012 EXPRESS WITH USER INSTANCE DATABASE

1. Download the latest stable release of DotNetNuke, using the INSTALL package
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP package to a folder on your computer.
3. Create a directory in the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ folder called DotNetNuke which would look like c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\
4. Copy the contents of the extracted DNN INSTALL package to the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\ folder
5. Go to the properties of the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\ folder, click on the Security tab, be sure to add the permissions for the appropriate user (WinXP uses the local ASPNET account, Win2003/Vista/2008/7 use the local Network Service account). Give this account modify permissions on the folder
6. For Windows 7 or Windows 2008R2 running IIS 7.5 you'll need to add the application pool ie; "IIS AppPool\{AppPoolName}" (without the quotes). The application pool should be given modify permissions. The application pool should be given modify permissions
   To read why Windows 7/2008R2 differ click here.
7. Open up the the web server IIS Console, start->run->INETMGR
8. Expand the websites node
9. Expand the default website node
10. Right click on the dotnetnuke folder under the default website, click on Convert to # Application, if you don't have that option, choose properties and then add the application.
11. Browse to your website using http://localhost/dotnetnuke
12. Step through the installation wizard, for the database screen you shouldn't have to configure any options as the default option is for SQLExpress and should be configured.
13. The default login accounts should be displayed on the homepage of the DNN site once the installation is complete. Host and Admin.
14. Login and change the passwords for these two accounts immediately.

INSTALLING DOTNETNUKE USING SQL SERVER 2005 / 2008 / 2008R2 / 2012 OR EXPRESS EDITION WITH ATTACHED DATABASE

1. Download the latest stable release of DotNetNuke, using the INSTALL package
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP package to a folder on your computer.
3. Create a directory in the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ folder called DotNetNuke which would look like c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\
4. Copy the contents of the extracted DNN INSTALL package to the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\ folder
5. Go to the properties of the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dotnetnuke\ folder, click on the Security tab, be sure to add the permissions for the appropriate user (WinXP uses the local ASPNET account, Windows Vista / 7 and Server 2003 / 2008 / 2008R2 use the local Network Service account). Give this account modify permissions on the folder
6. Open up the the web server IIS Console, start->run->INETMGR
7. Expand the websites node
8. Expand the default website node
9. Right click on the dotnetnuke folder under the default website, click on Convert to Application, if you don't have that option, choose properties and then add the application.
10. Open up SQL Management Studio (2005 / 2008 / 2008R2 / 2012)
11. Connect to your database server (might be local)
12. Expand the server node (name of the SQL server/computer) and right click on the Databases node, choose New Database.
13. Define the database name and other properties, click OK to create the database.
14. Configure the SQL User Security/Account
    1. Integrated Security
       1. Expand the Server/Security node
       2. Verify that NT Authority\Network Service is listed, if not add a new account and search for the local NETWORK SERVICE user (if using Windows XP use the local ASPNET account)
       3. For Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008R2 running IIS 7.5 you'll need to add the application pool ie; "IIS AppPool\{AppPoolName}" (without the quotes). The application pool should be given modify permissions. To read why Windows 7/2008R2 differ click
          here
       4. Right click on the NT Authority\Network Service account and choose properties.
       5. Choose the User Mapping section on the left. Select your database on the right, and then down below choose the db_owner option, click OK.
    2. SQL User Security (requires mixed mode authentication to be enabled in SQL Server)
       1. Right click on Server/Security and choose New Login
       2. Define new SQL Server authentication login information, username/password.
       3. From the User Mapping section choose the new DNN database and configure the db_owner role membership. Click OK.
15. Browse to your website using http://localhost/dotnetnuke
16. Step through the installation wizard, use Typical or Custom.
17. When you get to the database screen you need to choose SQL 2005/2008/2012 (not the SQL Express option)
    1. If you have only one instance of SQL running on your server, and you intend on using the SQL instance on your machine, you can enter a '.' for the database location or use (local) as the local instance name (the brackets are necessary(. Otherwise, if you have more than one instance of SQL running on your localhost (SQL2005, SQL2008Express, SQL2008, SQL2012) and you are going to use one of the local instances enter a period followed by a slash and the instance name. For example '.\SQL2008'
18. Depending on your choice at step 14, you should choose to use or not use integrated security.
    1. Integrated Security (no changes)
    2. Not using Integrated Security
       1. Uncheck Integrated Security
       2. Type in the Username and Password from steps 14-b-ii-iii
19. Test the database connection, if successful continue
20. Step through the remainder of the installation wizard configuring the Host and Admin accounts.