Hi Gil, 

I empathize with your frustration. I'm an educator who has decided to watch from the sidelines until issues brought into this forum by more technically skilled users indicate that development has reached a point that I feel safe to jump in. I admit that a lot of what's in the discussions here goes right over my head, but I thought I'd respond to you so you don't get the feeling that your request for help has gone unseen/unanswered.

What I've noticed about the ebb & flow of questions & responses in the forum is that most community participants take the weekend off. I'm guessing that on Monday you'll receive a reply with suggestions or questions asking for clarification, so if you hold on until then, you may get the assistance you need. Also the newest version of the authoring tool has only just been released, so you may be running up against a new glitch. I know they've been working on the Preview problem, but as you found, it's a sticky one. 

Anyway,  welcome to the Adapt Community. I think this will become a leading edge open source tool but right now working with it comes with barriers. You brave ealy adopters are bushwhacking the trail for the rest of us. 

Finally, if you have the budget for a privately developed product based on this framework (and so much farther down the user-friendly trail), you might take a look at Learning Pool or Appitierre.

-SueH

Installing the Adapt Authoring Tool in less than 5 minutes.

Installing Adapt Authoring tool in less than 5 minutes:

Delete or move all your previous Adapt Installations into a different folder and follow these steps.

Install Node Js

Install version 0.12.6

https://nodejs.org/download/release/
Here is a direct link for the 64 Bit version.
https://nodejs.org/download/release/v0.12.6/node-v0.12.6-x86.msi

Install Mongo DB
https://www.mongodb.org/downloads#production
https://fastdl.mongodb.org/win32/mongodb-win32-x86_64-2008plus-ssl-3.0.6-signed.msi
I prefer to install mongodb in the C drive root folder

Next:
Create a folder called 'data' in the same folder as your mongodb installation
When done, you should have the following:
C:\mongodb
C:\data

Next:
Run the following commands from your Dos Prompt. Copy and paste from here.
npm install -g grunt-cli
npm install -g adapt-cli
Should take no longer than a minute or two to complete this

When done:

Paste the following into your explorer window
C:\mongodb\bin
Double click mongod.exe

You should see a console window.

Open a new dos prompt as the administrator (right click and select run as administrator) and from teh C prompt, C:\ paste the following commands
cd mongodb and press enter
cd bin and press enter then type
mongo.exe and press enter
You will see a second console window. Leave them both running.

Make sure you are connected online and then from your C prompt, paste the following command:
git clone https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring.git

When it is done, navigate to your adapt_authoring folder by pasting the following command

cd adapt_authoring

Then paste the following command

npm install --production

Then paste the following command

node install

When it is done, paste the final command

node server

Go into your browser and paste the following url.

http://localhost:5000/

You should have your tool running. Enter your username and password and then create a quick course.

You should be able to preview your course.