My V Star won't start. Just cranks and cranks and won't fire. I had thought I had just flooded it but it has been a few days since the start failure and I even tried with a jump from my car. I read that it is possible that the bike could crank over with no ignition and that jumping or recharging the battery would help. No dice.

Even starting fluid will not fire if engine is flooded or compression is low at ignition time.

Well...... Could be one out of a dozen things. You say "it runs for a few days". Were you having other issues? Rough running previous backfiring, sluggish?

Leaving it sit does nothing good. Are there any lights coming on in the dashboard?

not sure what you said but.
seems the battery is discharging,? 12.6v is fully charged,
own a voltmeter?
try a good loaned battery , does it start the car,?
i think you meant?
i can jumper cable start my car at any time. (off another running car)
but after running my car, the battery discharges and it will not crank at all. right?
this means ,the charging system on your car is bad.
if the starter cranks great, then the engine is flooded or is in great need of a tune up (sparkplugs etc)
if flooded try the super secret in the op guide, crank with throttle wide open , this magic trick cuts all fuel injection allowing the flooding
to purge away, and eventual starting.
my guess 2 is the car wont start, so you crank the battery flat
you jumper start it and it runs. (luck)
then day 2, same deal cranks ok but wont start.. ever tune up the engine?

Sounds like its the float in the front carb is sticking,causing it to flood the front cylinder with too much fuel. Need to clean carbs,reset float levels,and synch them. Running it like this will wash the oil out of the cylinder,causing it to lose compression.

My guess would be the key switch.

ok, check distribuitor rotor, i have same problem, and replace ign coil, if 14 years old

carburetor would be the best guess if has been sitting with fuel in it all this time

Remove plugs, clean and dry(warm) them and try again-common fault
John