I have a need to duplicate an existing portal which I have done numerous times before. I exported the existing portal that I wish to duplicate on the same DNN site. I have attached that template file to this report. I then attempted to create the new portal by specifying that template in the create portal form. The process fails after submitting the form with the following error:-

Error parsing Portal TemplateTab Exists at DotNetNuke.Entities.Tabs.TabController.AddTabInternal(TabInfo objTab, Boolean includeAllTabsModules) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Tabs.TabController.AddTab(TabInfo objTab, Boolean includeAllTabsModules) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Tabs.TabController.DeserializeTab(XmlNode nodeTab, TabInfo objTab, Hashtable hTabs, Int32 PortalId, Boolean IsAdminTemplate, PortalTemplateModuleAction mergeTabs, Hashtable hModules) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Portals.PortalController.ParseTab(XmlNode nodeTab, Int32 PortalId, Boolean IsAdminTemplate, PortalTemplateModuleAction mergeTabs, Hashtable& hModules, Hashtable& hTabs, Boolean IsNewPortal) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Portals.PortalController.ParseTabs(XmlNode nodeTabs, Int32 PortalId, Boolean IsAdminTemplate, PortalTemplateModuleAction mergeTabs, Boolean IsNewPortal) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Portals.PortalController.ParseTemplate(Int32 PortalId, String TemplatePath, String TemplateFile, Int32 AdministratorId, PortalTemplateModuleAction mergeTabs, Boolean IsNewPortal) at DotNetNuke.Entities.Portals.PortalController.CreatePortal(String PortalName, UserInfo objAdminUser, String Description, String KeyWords, String TemplatePath, String TemplateFile, String HomeDirectory, String PortalAlias, String ServerPath, String ChildPath, Boolean IsChildPortal)

I got absolutely no useful response from the DNN core group or the forums. Basically they just said there wasn't a problem.... I HAD to get this new portal running so I couldn't wait any longer, so I built the new portal, page by page by exporting from the base portal I wanted to use as a template and importing into the new portal (created with a standard template). In the process, I discovered there WAS a duplicate page in the tab list which isn't supposed to be allowed. Somehow in the successive upgrades from DNN 4.x to 5.x, a duplicated page name (under the same parent page) made it's way through. It would appear as if this was what was causing the error. Because it was one of the last pages to be imported into the new portal, I never had a chance to retest the export/import again, but I'd be 99% sure that was the problem. Now for Mr DNN, that says to me there IS a bug in the import/export as this exception should have been handled gracefully, rather than simply aborting the import process with an obscure error message. Moreover, the problem should have been identified by the DNN upgrade wizard and have been addressed during upgrade... IMHO. Hope this helps...

Hi
The creation of portals by using previously created templates is never straight forward, especially if you include content. Very often the fault is with the timeout of the server rather than DNN. Nowadays whenever I have to copy the portal I create it first using default dnn template and than using site wizard bring the  content from the previously created template.

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