I have a feeling I am doing something wrong.  With that being said, I downloaded the latest master from github and opened the project into VisualStudio 2017.  The project builds just fine.  When I try to publish it without any changes, it comes back with this error:

Error        

Copying file Properties\PublishProfiles\local-fs.pubxml to obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp\Properties\PublishProfiles\local-fs.pubxml failed. Could not find file 'Properties\PublishProfiles\local-fs.pubxml'.

mojoPortal.Web 
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Not sure if that file is required, but I deleted it from the project and it will then publish.

Thanks Joe.  Sorry to add more to this; There are reference to "packages.config" in some of the projects as well that the files do not exists.  (I can get a list if you like)

I created the user.config file and pointed it to a new SQL database.  When I run the setup, it comes up with this error. 

Probing system...
File system permissions ok.
MSSQL database connection ok.
database permissions are sufficient to alter schema.
database initial schema needs to be created.
Running script mojoportal-core - 2.3.4.8 - 00:00:00.1380430
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Invalid column name 'ApplicationId'. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteNonQueryTds(String methodName, Boolean async, Int32 timeout, Boolean asyncWrite) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, String methodName, Boolean sendToPipe, Int32 timeout, Boolean& usedCache, Boolean asyncWrite, Boolean inRetry) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() at mojoPortal.Data.SqlHelper.ExecuteNonQuery(SqlTransaction transaction, CommandType commandType, String commandText, Int32 commandTimeout, SqlParameter[] commandParameters) at mojoPortal.Data.DBPortal.DatabaseHelperRunScript(String script, String overrideConnectionInfo) at mojoPortal.Business.DatabaseHelper.RunScript(Guid applicationId, FileInfo scriptFile, String overrideConnectionInfo) ClientConnectionId:8125e74e-0b0d-4574-8002-6332957e1474 Error Number:207,State:1,Class:16 - 00:00:02.0210276
 

Hey Joe.  On a side note, I like what you and your team have done with the place.  The refresh of the website and new attention to the project are a welcome site.  I hope to use mojoPortal more for my websites (I already have some ideas about the Active Directory interface).

That being said. The SQL I am trying is SQL Server 13.0.4001.0.

Here are the specific steps I am using when trying to get the code up and running.

1. Download zip file from https://github.com/i7media/mojoportal
2. Using Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017 (15.0.0+26228.12) on Windows 10 Pro Version 1607
   1. Delete all but MSSQL Data folders.
   2. Build Solution (========== Build: 6 succeeded, 0 failed, 9 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========)
   3. Publish mojoPortal.Web to a folder (========== Publish: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========)
3. In IIS, I setup a website and pointed it to the published folder.
4. Created user.config based on user.config.sample.
5. Loaded browser to Setup/Default.aspx.

Errors out the same place as before.  Thank you for your help with this very interesting problem.  I also downloaded MS SQL version from https://www.mojoportal.com/download and was able to run the setup.  Perhaps something with the zip file or the publish?