Unfortunately I think the site template functionality has mostly been broken/removed in the latest versions of DNN 9. The default templates work, but the ability to create and use templates from existing sites appears to have gone by the wayside.

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Chris Hammond
Former DNN Corp Employee, MVP, Core Team Member, Trustee
Christoc.com Software Solutions DotNetNuke Module Development, Upgrades and consulting.

Doing it that way doesn't seem to allow you to start from the design you want though.  You have to create a site off a "incorrect" template then "import" over top of it.  Also I had tried that, but the export didn't bring over any of the site settings which is where the majority of the configuration of the initial site i want is.  Import/Export appears to be more for moving a site from one server to another according to the documentation, so from a test system to a production system.  I'm confused and can't imagine I'm the only person who wants ever site i create to start with the same set of settings without having to go through the maintenance nightmare of doing them all manually myself every time.  All I really need is a whitepaper on the possible values and I'll do the work of by-hand coding the files, but that doesn't even seem to exist.  If this product is intended for the corporation then they really need to look at getting things in place to ensure consistency during rollout and being able to replicate site settings and a default site template to start from is a huge factor in that.