Member Avatar for nickbarnes

I have hosed up my IE Favorites. In attempting to correct the problem I erased them all. I then copied them back. When I open Favorites they show that they are there, but the sites will not open when clicked. Also, when I try to save a website to Favorites I get a message "the system cannot find the file specified".

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by DoctorH

Dani AI

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Brief summary: reports Favorites visible in Explorer but clicks do nothing and saving a new Favorite fails; confirmed the Favorites folder and files exist; notes similar disappearances. Those symptoms point to one of a few repeatable causes: the shortcut files themselves are malformed, Windows no longer knows how to open .url shortcuts, file/permission problems in the user profile, or a security/shell-extension interference.

Quick checklist (in this order) that fixes this class of problem most of the time:

  • Inspect a Favorite file itself. Open one in a plain text editor and confirm it is an Internet Shortcut (it should contain a short header and a URL). A minimal example looks like this:
[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://www.example.com/

  • If the file contains a valid URL but double-clicking does nothing, test by copying the same file to the desktop and opening it there. If it works on the desktop but not in the folder, folder permissions or a shell extension are likely involved.

  • Re-associate shortcut files with your browser: right-click a .url file -> Open with -> choose your browser and set it as the default for that file type. On modern Windows, use the Default Apps settings to set file associations.

  • Check permissions and attributes on the Favorites folder (your user profile) and the .url files; remove accidental Read-only or Deny entries.

  • Repair system handler files: from an elevated Command Prompt run:

    sfc /scannow

    This restores core components that handle URL shortcuts.

If those steps don’t restore behavior, create a new local user and test there. If Favorites work in the new account, copy only the valid .url files (not HTML exports or converted files) into the new profile. Keep a backup of the entire Favorites folder before making changes, and check any antivirus or shell-extension utility logs—these can silently block shell launches.

Member Avatar for humbll

Look for a folder on the hard drive:

c:\documents and settings\%user%\favorites

the %user% is your login name. Does the file exist?

Are there any links inside of it?

Member Avatar for nickbarnes

Look for a folder on the hard drive:

c:\documents and settings\%user%\favorites

the %user% is your login name. Does the file exist?

Are there any links inside of it?

Humbll, Yes file exists and there are links. What now?
Nick

Member Avatar for humbll

Check one of the links inside the favorites FOLDER to see if it IS actually a link. When you hover the mouse over it or right click it and click on properties you should see a URL to the website it is bookmarking. Then it should open IE and load the page it refers to.

Member Avatar for DoctorH

My Bookmarks went away the other day and came back yesterday but have gone again, Are other people having this problem?

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