side-effect if IE removed

[Justin_Fang]

Dear all,

I want to remove IE from my XPE. I just remove IE, HTML Rendering
Engine, and ignore dependence check.
Two side-effects till now.
1. Device manager can not work properly. It said it needs IE....
2. Can not detect USB disk correctly. If USB disk removed, file
explorer will leave an strange device.
Can anyone solve these two issue?
Any other side-effect if remove IE from XPE?

Is it possible to restrict IE to browser limited web site? And then I
can keep it in my XPE.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[KM]

Justin,

Are you working with FP2007 database? In FP2007 Microsoft did some component refactoring removing IE dependencies from many system
components. You may want to give it a try if you are still with SP2 only.

I recall MMC console (that is what's running Device Manager snap-in, requires IE COM to render XML/HMTL that might be includes in
the .msc files.

You can certainly restrict IE to only allow certain websites for navigation. Looks at the IE "Content Advisor" and Zone features (IE
Options). If you set this up at runtime or on an XP Pro machine you can always move and pre-build the required registry entries.

 

[Justin_Fang]

Hi KM,

Yes, I am using SP2. I already download FP2007 from Microsoft web
site.
It has evaluation version only. But I can not find any limitation with
it. Do I need to buy a official version somewhere?

I try to remove IE with FP2007. It seems no one depends on it now.
But I want to remove HTML Rendering Engine. The MMC still depends on
it.
If I keep HTML Rendering Engine, user can type URL in address bar of
File explorer and browser web site.
Do you have any idea about this issue?

I will try the alternative solution to config IE.

Thank you very much.

Justin

 

[KM]

Justin,

Yes, I am using SP2. I already download FP2007 from Microsoft web
site.
It has evaluation version only. But I can not find any limitation with
it. Do I need to buy a official version somewhere?

You will need the non-eval version of the FP if and when you'd want to build a production image.
Caution: you can't "upgrade" from eval install to full. You will have to wipe out all the work you did on eval and install the tools
and database + all your components again.

I try to remove IE with FP2007. It seems no one depends on it now.
But I want to remove HTML Rendering Engine. The MMC still depends on
it.
If I keep HTML Rendering Engine, user can type URL in address bar of
File explorer and browser web site.
Do you have any idea about this issue?

You will likely need more components from IE stack (but probably not the entire stack) to support the feature you're referring to.
Just the HTML rendering engine wouldn't be enough, I think.

 

[Justin_Fang]

Dear KM,

I will get FP2007 from our distributor soon.
I had tried the eval version. As you said, the componets I created are
disappeared.
I need to import them again.

So, does it mean FP2007 will clean the database, and I must import all
the componets again?
Regardless the IE issue, will you suggest us to upgrade to FP2007?
Any bug fixed in FP2007?
FP2007 did some component refactoring, how to migrate this advantage
to old project with SP2?
Do I need to create a new project and do everything I did again?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[KM]

Justin,

So, does it mean FP2007 will clean the database, and I must import all
the componets again?

Nope. FP20007 doesn't change your components nor removes them from database. However, if you happened to install an eval version of
the product (any SP or FP) it will "break" your database making it eval. You will then haveto wipe out all XPe stuff and install
everything from scratch including re-importing your components and repositores.

Regardless the IE issue, will you suggest us to upgrade to FP2007?

Absolutely. FP2007 rocks.

Any bug fixed in FP2007?

Lots of. Especially around IE refactoring that you are looking for.

FP2007 did some component refactoring, how to migrate this advantage
to old project with SP2?

The best - start new project.

Do I need to create a new project and do everything I did again?

Well, hopefully you have some marco component you created for your self to bring in the require functionality you needed. Then you
could re-use the same macro components in the new project, resolve dependencies and the image is good to go.

 

[Justin_Fang]

Dear KM,

I got my FP2007 and restart my project. It's a nightmare..
Finally, I rebuild my project successfully.

Please help me again about the IE issue.
My goal is to remove IE and do not allow user to browse any web site.
First, I disable "Internet Explorer" component. With FP2007, there is
no one depends on it. But user can type one URL on address bar of File
Explorer to browse web and the "About" shows that it is IE 6.0. I try
to prohibit it by disable "HTML Rendering Engine" and then file
explorer can not be used as Internet Explorer. But the MMC and HTML
Help depend on HTML Rendering Engine. Is there any possible side
effect if I disable HTML Rendering Engine? Can I just ignore the
dependency? Is there any other solution to disable the "Internet
Explorer" function in "File Explorer"?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[Justin_Fang]

Dear KM,

I got my FP2007 and restart my project. It's a nightmare..
Finally, I rebuild my project successfully.

Please help me again about the IE issue.
My goal is to remove IE and do not allow user to browse any web site.
First, I disable "Internet Explorer" component. With FP2007, there is
no one depends on it. But user can type one URL on address bar of File
Explorer to browse web and the about show that it is IE 6.0. I try to
prohibit it by disable "HTML Rendering Engine" and then file explorer
can not be used as Internet Explorer. But the MMC and HTML Help depend
on HTML Rendering Engine. Is there any possible side effect if I
disable HTML Rendering Engine? Can I just ignore the dependency? Is
there any other solution to disable the "Internet Explorer" function
in "File Explorer"?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[Justin_Fang]

Dear KM,

I got my FP2007 and restart my project. It's a nightmare..
Finally, I rebuild my project successfully.

Please help me again about the IE issue.
My goal is to remove IE and do not allow user to browse any web site.
First, I disable "Internet Explorer" component. With FP2007, there is
no one depends on it. But user can type one URL on address bar of File
Explorer to browse web and the about show that it is IE 6.0. I try to
prohibit it by disable "HTML Rendering Engine" and then file explorer
can not be used as Internet Explorer. But the MMC and HTML Help depend
on HTML Rendering Engine. Is there any possible side effect if I
disable HTML Rendering Engine? Can I just ignore the dependency? Is
there any other solution to disable the "Internet Explorer" function
in "File Explorer"?

Thanks,
Justin

 

[KM]

Justin,

I got my FP2007 and restart my project. It's a nightmare..
Finally, I rebuild my project successfully.

I hear you. But please keep in mind that FP2007 is a really good update in terms of tools, components and new features. You will
like it and you won't regret you decided to update the image.

Please help me again about the IE issue.
My goal is to remove IE and do not allow user to browse any web site.

Undestood. How about using IE Parental control and/or Zones features? You can prevent user from going *anywhere* in Internet zone
only.
You can set this up on XP Pro machine first and then move the appropriate registry branches to your runtime.

Another way of disabling Internet Explorer in XP/XPe is by using the Set Program Access and Defaults utility at run time.
And one more: Internet Explorer Security Features policy settings.

First, I disable "Internet Explorer" component. With FP2007, there is
no one depends on it. But user can type one URL on address bar of File
Explorer to browse web and the "About" shows that it is IE 6.0. I try
to prohibit it by disable "HTML Rendering Engine" and then file
explorer can not be used as Internet Explorer. But the MMC and HTML
Help depend on HTML Rendering Engine. Is there any possible side
effect if I disable HTML Rendering Engine? Can I just ignore the

Beside the fact that MMC and HMTL Help apps won't work, I don't think there is any.
Do you need those apps working on your image?

 

[Justin_Fang]

Dear KM,

Thank you very much.
I will use FP2003 for further development.


Before FP2003 installed, if I disable HTML Rendering Engine, Device
Management and USB disk plug in/out can not work properly.
With FP2003 these issues have gone. I'd like to use this solution to
check if any other problem.
Thanks for your support.

Justin