Bingo!!!
Its let me in now. The folder within photogallery already had the network service user account set enabled with write permission. But when i navigated to the app_data folder I clicked on the actual database itself (ASPNETDB.MDF) and selected properties it only had the administrator set as a user in there. Once I added the 'NETWORK SERVICE' user account and set write permissions it allowed me to log into the admin toll on the photogallery website. Going to test the other bits now, like adding an album to the photo databse.

Great, glad you got it working.

You probably have the Everyone group with read-access to all your files and folders by default. That's probably why you can read from the database. However, when you login, the .NET services make a change to the database, so you need write permissions to the folder with the databases.

Have fun,

Imar
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Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and Beginning Dreamweaver MX / MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.

I am sorted Imar, many many thanks!! Everything working like a dream.
I love the book by the way, brilliant just what I need to help me get going. I hope this thread will help any others with similar problem.