You Can't Explain This! ARRRRG! SQL Ghost!

Hello all,

Where do I start?  My son and I wrote a small ASP.net 2.0 website on XP IIS 5.  Works ok with the standard login controls.

I FTP'ed the files up to a Windows server2003.  I installed the SQL publishing wizard.  I created a .sql file of the data base.

I ran the file in SQL2005 manager to build the data base on SQL express running on the Windows 2003 server.  It installed,  no errors.  great!

The website would not run with Data base connection errors ,  like files or data base was read only,  duplicate database ,  can not run mydatabase.create.  something like that.

I created a new app pool and made sure network service was the account.  Gave network server permissions to the folders,  it started working great.

Now sit down.  I created a few accounts using the website  ok,  no errors, Great!   Then check the database to see if the passwords were encrypted.  The new accounts were not there. 

But the accounts went somewhere????   Must be two databases????  One hidden?

I detached the database I created with the .sql script file....  to see if I would get an error on the browser.  nope still worked. Hmmmm other hidden database still working.... I stopped database server

in the management tool,    It still worked....Ok, I'll get the house check for poltergiests.

I went to SERVICES.  The service was stopped(SQLEXPRESS)..  I changed auto start to manual.  Browsed back to the site again,  finally an error.

I restarted the service,  website worked again,  but the database,  the only user database,  is still detached.  Created more user accounts with no error....

Seached the hard drives for .MDF files.  Found the file I detached and also the ASPNETDB.MDF that I orginally FTP'ed to the server earlier in the APP_DATA folder of the website.  I renamed the  

MDF file to see if then I would get an error,  yep I did.    It then automatcly re-created the MDF file exactly the same size.  Two files in the directory now and now a new error in the browser

about a database mismatch.  Ok  that makes sense.   But it will not allow me to rename the new file so I can rename the original. 

Question is how does SQLEXPRESS run the ASPNETDB.MDF file in the web folder which is not attached to the database engine? 

Why use a SQL pub wizard if ASP.NET creates the database automaticly? Or just "Runs" it?    AM I HIGH?

Thanks in advance,  before I take drugs and sit in a dark closet.

-Wade