I have a new Win 2008 R2 server that is not in production yet. No active directory, no domain controller. IIS 7 and Coldfusion are installed and run just fine. I downloaded and installed WSS and after a few attempts success. SQL Server Express has been loaded but is not being used by SharePoint. When I go to any SharePoint page the images are missing and the css does not load. Browsing to an image in the _layouts images application area delivers a HTTP 403 forbidden. So it looks like a permission problem. Even giving full administrative rights to the application pool did not make the images display. What should I try next?

Solution found: I deleted and recreated the _layouts virtual directory for both the admin and port 80 Sharepoint sites. And now the images display properly.