I have a 'problematic' installation of DNN (it works fine) - I do not run localhost.

I have problems opening DNN project and module files in VS - it complains as if there's no tomorrow.

So, how would I manually recompile one, if the only thing I want to mess with is .ascx?  Can anyone help with command line arguments? :)

If all you're going to mess with is one of the .ascx files then you don't need to recompile the project. But if you really want to recompile then maybe let us know some of the errors you're seeing. It'll help sort out what the problem is. That said, I suspect you need to edit the DotNetNuke.sln and DotNetNuke.vbproj.webinfo file. If you open those up in notepad you can change the default URL files listed (http://localhost/DotNetNuke/etc) to match your URL.

That's what I thought.  But for some reason the changes I am making on Signin.ascx do not show up.  Or am I looking in the wrong place?

I want to move around elements on AccountLogin module and on Registration module.  What am I missing here?

Would you answer these questions, so I look into the issue?  I'm mostly a handcoder, so what you are doing is possible, I believe.

0)Explain your setup config.  I'm not sure what you mean by you are not running 'localhost'.  Are you running DNN on a local machine or remote hosted environment?
1)What version are you using?
2)What simple change are you making?
3)What skin are you using?

I run DNN on a workstation, with the naming convention:
virtual dir name: dnn030101_16
physical path: c:\dnn030101_16
database: sql/msde
framework: asp.net v1.1
browser: iev6
I used a text editor to add a simple table row with a text welcome message.
Adding the following code to the \admin\security\signin.ascx file (in bold):
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="0" summary="SignIn Design Table">
 <tr>
  <td colspan="2" class="Head" align="center">Welcome to InfoCentre</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <td colspan="2" class="SubHead" align="center"><dnn:label id="plUsername" controlname="txtUsername" runat="server" text="UserName:"></dnn:label></td>
 </tr>

I open a new browser window and wait for the JIT to compile the controls, and the change shows up.

I think we can help sort this out easily enough, by understanding your setup and what you are doing.

Cheers...