Hi stullhe104,

Regarding on the "error: 26 .." error you mentioned, based on my research,
it is a error message specific to SQL Server named instance's locating.
Here is a blog article describe this:

#SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance
Specified
http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2007/05/13/sql-network-interface
s-error-26-error-locating-server-instance-specified.aspx

However, as this article mentioned, this is just the direct error message,
the actual cause maybe further dependent. For your scenario,  I'd like you
to provide the following information so that I can have a further look
at(in addition to the above article):

1. As you are using the SQL membership provider to store user accoutns
info, correct? if so, are you using a customized membership setting in
web.config and also has your own custom connectionstring? If so, please
paste the configuration section here.

2. After you moved to the production server, whether the SQL Server
instance matches the one one your original server(such as instance name).
If you're using the default  "user instance" mode(an attached aspnetdb.mdf
file), you need to make sure user instance is correctly running on the
production server.

You can check the above things in addition to the steps mentioned in the
blog article.

If there is any other findings, welcome to post here.

Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

Microsoft MSDN Online Support Lead

Delighting our customers is our #1 priority. We welcome your comments and
suggestions about how we can improve the support we provide to you. Please
feel free to let my manager know what you think of the level of service
provided. You can send feedback directly to my manager at:
msdnmg@microsoft.com.

==================================================
Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif
ications.

Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx.
==================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

--------------------