IE won't spawn new windows -- last ditch effort

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I've been grappling with this problem for three days. Internet explorer
will not open a new window when requested, regardless of whether it's clicked
in an email, typed into the Run: box, or told to Open In A New Window from
the right-click contextual menu. When the latter of these three options is
used the machine just freezes; either of the former, nothing happens at all.

I've seen all the suggestions online, and tried them all. I've reset IE as
the default browser, reregistered all the DLLs (urlmon, mshtml, actxprxy,
oleaut32, shell32, shdocvw, browseui, msjava), recopied the DLLs from my XP
CD, re-reregistered them, run the SFC to replace original system files, and
even ran a couple of third-party fix utilities I found on mpvs.org. None of
this has fixed the problem. Oh, and yes, the machine is fully patched and
virus/malware-free.

So at this point I'm left with no alternative than just rebuilding the damn
thing, which is not what I would like to do, but I'm not sure I have any
other choice. But before I do that at the end of the day tomorrow I thought
I'd post one last time to see if anyone has any original advice. Believe you
me, it would be *greatly* appreciated.

I hate friggin' computers. I'm in the wrong field. :p

-LB
 
Linda B said:
I've been grappling with this problem for three days. Internet explorer
will not open a new window when requested, regardless of whether it's clicked
in an email, typed into the Run: box, or told to Open In A New Window from
the right-click contextual menu. When the latter of these three options is
used the machine just freezes; either of the former, nothing happens at all.

I've seen all the suggestions online, and tried them all. I've reset IE as
the default browser, reregistered all the DLLs (urlmon, mshtml, actxprxy,
oleaut32, shell32, shdocvw, browseui, msjava), recopied the DLLs from my XP
CD, re-reregistered them, run the SFC to replace original system files, and
even ran a couple of third-party fix utilities I found on mpvs.org. None of
this has fixed the problem. Oh, and yes, the machine is fully patched and
virus/malware-free.

So at this point I'm left with no alternative than just rebuilding the damn
thing, which is not what I would like to do, but I'm not sure I have any
other choice. But before I do that at the end of the day tomorrow I thought
I'd post one last time to see if anyone has any original advice. Believe you
me, it would be *greatly* appreciated.

I hate friggin' computers. I'm in the wrong field. :p

-LB
Click to expand...
===========================================================
I had posted this reply to your other post about "extracting files"
I am now wondering if you have mismatched files in your C:\WINDOWS\System32

What version of XP are you running?
Is it the same as the XP CD that you have?

(This posting may get chopped up - watch for any wrapped lines)
I have Windows XP Pro version 2002 SP2
(Service Pack 2 was installed later)

So I have -

C:\windows\system32:
Name Size Type Date Modified
ole32.dll 1,252KB Application Extension 8/4/2004 12:56
oleaut32.dll 541KB Application Extension 8/4/2004 12:56


Because I have installed SP2 I also have this -

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386:
Name Size Type Date Modified
ole32.dll 1,252KB Application Extension 8/4/2004 12:56
oleaut32.dll 541KB Application Extension 8/4/2004 12:56


I suggest you try this first:

START > RUN > cmd
(Command Prompt window opens)

Type in these commands (Press enter after each command)

cd c:\windows\system32
regsvr32 ole32.dll (click OK when succeeded)
regsvr32 oleaut32.dll (click OK when succeeded)
exit

Restart computer

See if your issue is resolved -

If I thought I needed a new copy of either of those files
I would do this:

START > RUN > cmd
(Command Prompt window opens)

Type in these commands (Press enter after each command)

cd c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386
copy oleaut32.dll c:\windows\system32
(Tap Y for yes to overwite and press Enter)
cd c:\windows\system32
regsvr32 oleaut32.dll (click OK when succeeded)
exit

How to "extract" a file from the XP CD -

!! I WOULD NOT ACTUALLY WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE !!
(Original XP Pro CD - version 2002 - NO SERVICE PACKS)
I would only do this if I was CERTAIN that the
file in question had not been modified by installing
one of the Service Packs!!!!

!! Just an example then !! -

START > RUN > cmd
(Command Prompt window opens)

Type in these commands (Press enter after each command)
x: (Where "x" is the CDROM drive letter)
cd i386
expand oleaut32.dl_ c:\windows\system32
(should see a prompt that shows the file expanding)
(underscore at end of file name = compressed file)
You can also run a copy command like so -
copy oleaut32.dl_ c:\windows\system32\oleaut32.dll


Hope this helps
===========================================================
 
I just came on here, so I don't know what you've tried up to this point.
There is a setting in IE under the Advanced tab in Tools that is defaulted
(checked) to "Reuse Windows to Launch Shortcuts" which will always reuse your
current window. Just uncheck that and any subsequent calls for IE should
just launch a new window. Hope this helps!
 
Linda B said:
I've been grappling with this problem for three days. Internet
explorer will not open a new window when requested, regardless of
whether it's clicked in an email, typed into the Run: box, or told to
Open In A New Window from the right-click contextual menu. When the
latter of these three options is used the machine just freezes;
either of the former, nothing happens at all.

I've seen all the suggestions online, and tried them all. I've reset
IE as the default browser, reregistered all the DLLs (urlmon, mshtml,
actxprxy, oleaut32, shell32, shdocvw, browseui, msjava), recopied the
DLLs from my XP CD, re-reregistered them, run the SFC to replace
original system files, and even ran a couple of third-party fix
utilities I found on mpvs.org. None of this has fixed the problem.
Oh, and yes, the machine is fully patched and virus/malware-free.

So at this point I'm left with no alternative than just rebuilding
the damn thing, which is not what I would like to do, but I'm not
sure I have any other choice. But before I do that at the end of the
day tomorrow I thought I'd post one last time to see if anyone has
any original advice. Believe you me, it would be *greatly*
appreciated.

I hate friggin' computers. I'm in the wrong field. :p

-LB
Click to expand...

Go to Tools | Internet Options | Advanced.
Uncheck "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts".

Also, if you have Yahoo Companion, Google toolbar, MSN toolbar, a firewall,
Earthlink (or another pop-up blocker) My IE2 (a shell for IE) etc.
Yahoo Companion is a very common cause.

You'll have to turn off the feature that's blocking new windows or, perhaps,
uninstall the program (especially uninstall Yahoo Companion).

With some programs of this type, using Ctrl+click or Shift+click will allow
a new window.

If you're *sure* that another program isn't causing this, these links may
help.
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/IEFAQ.htm Tips #21 & 46
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679
http://www.fjsmjs.com/OE/nolinks.htm
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/answers2.htm#hyperlinks
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/answers.htm#new_window

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
 
Frank,

I jumped in here part-way through as I was going to ask this question.

I have tried everything below and still have the same problem.

I have IE6.0.3790.0 on Windows Server 2003.

See below for comments ...
Go to Tools | Internet Options | Advanced.
Uncheck "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts".
Unchecked

Also, if you have Yahoo Companion, Google toolbar, MSN toolbar, a firewall,
Earthlink (or another pop-up blocker) My IE2 (a shell for IE) etc.
Yahoo Companion is a very common cause.
Click to expand...

Don't have any of those (or anything similar) installed.
If you're *sure* that another program isn't causing this, these links may
help.
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/IEFAQ.htm Tips #21 & 46
Click to expand...

All reregistering went fine, no errors.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679
Click to expand...

The first bits were repeats of what was in the previous link. I checked
the registry entries and they were OK.
http://www.fjsmjs.com/OE/nolinks.htm
Click to expand...

This isn't exactly my problem in that links do work, as long as they
don't have a target set (to open in a different window) or you don't
Shift-Click or choose Open In New Window from the context menu.

Either way, I couldn't see an entry in the file types for URL:Hypertext
etc. The nearest I could see was for the file extension URL, and the
open action had the following entry ...

rundll32.exe shdocvw.dll,OpenURL %l

and DDL was not enabled. This is the same as on a Windows2000 machine I
have here, so I assume this is right and the link you supplied meant
something else.
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/answers2.htm#hyperlinks
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/answers.htm#new_window
Click to expand...

These two either gave the same as previous, or things that weren't
applicable. I couldn't try the suggestion about Dcomcnfg.exe as it is
different in Windows 2003 and I couldn't work out how to translate what
the article said to what I saw on screen. Running Dcomcnfg.exe opens
Component Services administration in MMC. I couldn't work out where to
look for the setting described.

So, any more ideas? Thanks.
 
Alan --

Do you happen to have patch KB873377 installed? After about a week of
research and experimenting, I finally narrowed my problem down to this patch
-- after uninstalling it, windows will spawn fine in IE. I'm just about to
start a new thread asking why the hell this happens.

Hope this helps.

:) LB
 
Alan --
Do you happen to have patch KB873377 installed? After about a week of
research and experimenting, I finally narrowed my problem down to this patch
-- after uninstalling it, windows will spawn fine in IE. I'm just about to
start a new thread asking why the hell this happens.
Click to expand...

Thanks anyway, but I don't have that one. I have KB873376, is that close
enough? ;-)

Any other ideas appreciated.
 
I'm sorry that didn't work. One other idea is that KB873377 is a rollup, so
it's possible that one of the contained updates -- if you have any of them
installed -- is causing the problem. If you feel like doing some
experimenting, you could check to see if any of the following patches are
installed and causing the problem. I didn't do any research into just which
part of the rollup was causing my problem.

838386
822071
830511
823386
841237
871260

Just an idea...
:)LB
 
Linda,

Thanks for the reply. I don't have a single one of those hotfixes!! I
thought I was keeping my machine fairly up to date, but maybe I'm not.

Anyway, thanks again and any other ideas?
I'm sorry that didn't work. One other idea is that KB873377 is a rollup, so
it's possible that one of the contained updates -- if you have any of them
installed -- is causing the problem. If you feel like doing some
experimenting, you could check to see if any of the following patches are
installed and causing the problem. I didn't do any research into just which
part of the rollup was causing my problem.

838386
822071
830511
823386
841237
871260

Just an idea...
:)LB
Click to expand...
 
Alan Silver said:
Frank,

I jumped in here part-way through as I was going to ask this question.


This isn't exactly my problem in that links do work, as long as they
don't have a target set (to open in a different window) or you don't
Shift-Click or choose Open In New Window from the context menu.
Click to expand...


If you sort file types by extension, URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol will be
listed with NONE.
Did you try
regsvr32 urlmon.dll

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
 
I jumped in here part-way through as I was going to ask this question.
If you sort file types by extension, URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol
will be listed with NONE.
Click to expand...

Ah, got it thanks. It was already set as the article said.
Did you try
regsvr32 urlmon.dll
Click to expand...

Yup, I did the whole list.

So, what do I do now? Thanks again for the reply.
 
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