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Here's a wierd one for you, please help... I have IE 6.0.x with SP1, and I'm on Win 2K, P4 2 Ghz, 1 Gb ram, rest is standard stuff.

When I launch Internet Explorer - iexplore.exe (through any method, start menu, shortcut, etc) and enter any URL (google for example), I will get 'page cannot be displayed' error message.

However, when I open windows explorer - explorer.exe (Windows 5.0 SP3) and enter www.google.com in the address bar (where you'd normally see c:\temp) the page loads fine. I click on the 'x' of the 'Folders' frame, and the windows explorer completely converts to an Internet Explorer window. Bookmarks work, I can enter any URL correctly, no probs with simple navigation.

I said 'no probs with simple navigation' and I emphasize 'simple'. When I click on any link that opens in new window, page will fail to load in new window, page cannot be displayed, blah blah blah. I can copy/paste the new URL into a Windows Explorer address like before and get the page to load, but obviously this work around is not 100% effective - java applets, new windows with no address bar (i'm not patient enough to search through page source code to get these urls).

I have updated my Norton AV virus defs and did complete scan, nothing turned up. I have spybot running, got lasted updates, dix a scan with default settings, nothing turned up. I re-installed IE 6.0 SP1 from microsoft.com and forced a re-install of all components, still nothing.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm desparate here, thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

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Generated

A concise, practical troubleshooting checklist for the symptom reported by (IE 6 fails to load pages when run as Internet Explorer but the same URLs open when entered into Windows Explorer). This pattern most often points to a per-process add-on / protocol handler / association problem or a process-specific network filter, rather than a complete TCP/IP failure. Following ’s repair suggestion, the steps below target the common, testable causes in order of effort.

Launch IE with add-ons disabled: IE supports a no-addons mode. From Start -> Run enter:

iexplore -extoff

If pages load there, disable third-party browser extensions (Internet Options -> Advanced -> uncheck “Enable third-party browser extensions”) and remove suspicious toolbars/BHOs. Investigate installed toolbars or recently added utilities that hook the browser.

Re-register core IE/WinINet components (run from an administrator command prompt one line at a time; restart IE after finishing):

regsvr32 /s urlmon.dll
regsvr32 /s mshtml.dll
regsvr32 /s shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 /s actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 /s browseui.dll
regsvr32 /s jscript.dll
regsvr32 /s vbscript.dll

These restore standard COM registrations that some installers or malware can break.

Check protocol/file associations and per-user settings: verify the HTTP/HTTPS protocol handlers and .htm/.html associations in Folder Options -> File Types (or Internet Options -> Programs). Create a new Windows user account and test there to see if the problem is scoped to one profile. Test in Safe Mode with Networking or perform a clean boot (disable non-Microsoft services/startup items) to isolate startup/service interference.

Other notes and cautions: briefly disable personal firewalls or AV web-filtering while testing (some web filters only hook IE). Be careful editing the registry—export keys first. If the above fails, capture activity with a process/network monitor for deeper diagnosis or consider a targeted uninstall of recently installed network/filtering components.

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