Merge Replication revisited

Merge replication services from SQL 2000/2005 to SQL Mobile 2005 is great. When it is setup.
I have to set it up from time to time. Usually long enough gaps that I forget how to do it! The main problem isn't the setup, like I say if it works it just works, the problem is if it doesn't work. The error messages that get returned are practically useless.

Case in point: Today I setup a new publication from SS2000 to SSM2005 on a PDA. I have a VDIR setup already from another publication, it has the appropriate permissions and works fine. I figured that all I would have to do is setup a new publication, point it to the VDIR and have the snapshot point to that folder. Which is infact what I have to do.
However, in my config file on the PDA, I had the URL one character out. The error message that returned was just plain stoopid.Something along the lines of "IIS has encountered an error. Please restart IIS on the server". Erm, wtf? Even the IIS log wasn't helping much. Anyway, after going through every setting I saw my mistake, fixed it and hey presto Merge Rep works like a charm.