Sitefinity ASP.NET CMS can be downloaded as an executable installer or a blank project ZIP file.  The executable version of Sitefinity comes with a web-based Project Manager as well as 8 design templates.  The ZIP file, on the other hand, includes only a bare-bones Sitefinity web site.

Because of the permissions required by the Project Manager, the executable version of Sitefinity can be tricky to get running on consumer-versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 7).  To avoid these permission issues I often use the Blank Project ZIP file to start a new Sitefinity project.  The Sitefinity Blank Project can be opened in Visual Studio and development can begin immediately. 

The problem is that the Blank Project is missing the design templates that come with the executable installer version of Sitefinity.  Thankfully there is a work-around to this that allows Sitefinity design templates to be used with the Blank Project.

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