Importing Publishing Sites To Different Levels Unsupported
So if you move a site from a SPWeb to a SPSite and it is a publishing site you should expect an array of problems and unpredictability. In otherwords don't make a subweb a top level site.
THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS! IT IS UNSUPPORTED! http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/968483
Gary Lapoint does have a blog on this but it requires direct db modification which again is unsupported. Although kudos for the effort as it is a nice hack.
http://stsadm.blogspot.com/2007/09/convert-sub-site-to-site-collection.html
I am working on coming up with a supported path to do this, but my hopes are low @ this time.
