DNN^® Forum

   Many people have had problems installing components on the new DotNetNuke 4.0 platform.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  It does not matter what the file size is, who made the module, what the skin looks like, or how it's zipped.  The problem has to do with some DNN core code that leaves the file stream open after uploading, and thus can't open it again to extract the zip files.  

   So, if you need to install a new version or a brand new module, the process is actually pretty simple.  If you've already installed this component in the past, then all that you need to do is copy the .dll files into the \bin folder, directly under the root of your site.  If there are supporting files (.aspx, .ascx, .htm, .js, etc.), those get copied into the \DesktopModules\[FriendlyName], where FriendlyName refers to the Friendly name for a module.

   If this is a new install of a module, then you can just circumvent the upload portion, but still let DNN do the installation.  Simply copy the PA zip file into \Install\Module, or whatever kind of component this is.  Now navigate to http://[yoursite]/Install/Install.aspx?mode=InstallResources.  This will now install all PAs in your Install folder, and everything is initialized.

Hi Bob, I followed your instructions but I'm still having difficulties installing a new module (the Blogging module to be exact). This is what I've done;

1. Copied all the install files into the \install\module folder of my website (dotnetnuke 2)
2. Then navigated to http://dotnetnuke website2/Install/Install.aspx?mode=InstallResources
But it came up with 'page not found', so
3. Started Visual Studio and ctrl F5 to get my site up
4. then again navigated to http://dotnetnuke website2/Install/Install.aspx?mode=InstallResources
which this time it all looked like it all went well with the following messages appearing on the screen;

Installing Resources
Install Resources Status Report
00:00:00.046 - Installing Module File D:\Personal\Websites\DotNetNuke Website2\Install\Module\DNN_Blog_Resources.zip:

Installation Complete

Cool I thought. But now what? How do I add the module to the site? Under Host / Module Definition menu option I assume but when I click on 'Upload Module', I can't find anything that refers to a 'Blog' component...? What am I missing here?

Also what do you do with the files in \Install\Module folder? Leave them there? Delete them?

If I look around in my website folder I also see that there is a folder called \Desktop Modules which contains what appears to be folders for all the installed modules... but the Blogging module which I'm trying to install ain't there.

As you can tell I'm very much a newbie and am flying blind on this. I'll be ordering a book on dotnetnuke from Amazon tomorrow! Already downloaded the DNNGuide today but that doesn't seem to tell you how to install new modules.

Your (or anyones) help greatly appreciated.

Kelvin

One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm using version 4.0.3 of DotNetNuke and the Blog module I'm trying to install is version 3.01.2 (which they say tested ok on version 4 of DotNetNuke...)

Stop Press.  Just figured it out.  The 'Upload Module' link under Host / Module wanted the .zip folder as the folder to upload... wasn't expecting that but goes to show if you keep trying all the options you will eventually get there.


Cheers, Kelvin

I would like to add that if you are installing a module from scratch using Kevin's above method. Where you copy the PA into the DNN Install folder and navigate to the URL for forcing the install. If you are still not getting the module to show up in the module definition page try performing an IISRESET on your web server, then upload the module in DNN as you would normally do.

This method fixed my issue and now I can continue to work.

Note: For users that don’t know what IISREST is or how to perform this function. Log onto your server and do START - RUN type in IISREST and click OK. Remember this will stop all website activity for a short time and then restart the services. So don’t perform this on a mission critical server

Thanks for this - it worked like a charm for me. I was really frustrated by this and your workaround will do until they have time to get this fixed. Awesome answer. Thanks for sharing.