Office 2003 breaks XP's Web Folders?

[aren]

My Windows XP Web Folders seems to be broken.

Tonight I installed a new copy of Windows XP Professional on a blank
hard drive. Right after Windows XP's installation--nothing else was
installed, not even service pack 2 or any patches--I went to "My
Network Places," clicked on "Add a network place," and tried to add
http://www.alpenfest.com/ as a network place. After typing in the URL
and pressing Next, I was prompted for the username and password. It
apparently authenticated correctly because I was able to open the site
and see the files.

I then installed XP Service Pack 2, rebooted, deleted the
http://www.alpenfest.com/ "network place," and re-recreated it. It
worked.

Then I went to Windows Update, installed every available update
(critical or otherwise), rebooted, deleted the network place, and
re-created it. It worked.

Then I installed Office 2003 Professional using the Complete Install
option. This is a RTM pre-SP1 copy on official Microsoft media. (I.e.,
Office 2003 SP1 or any other updates are not slipstreamed in this
install CD.) After the install I rebooted (after being prompted),
deleted the network place, and tried to re-create it. After typing in
the URL and hitting next, it fails with this error message: "The folder
you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another." I am
not even prompted to enter a username and password.

Then I installed FrontPage 2003 (separate CD). It did not ask to
reboot. Re-creating the folder brought the exact same error, and again
I was not even allowed the opportunity to fill out a username and
password.

If I try to open this web site in FrontPage 2003, I get this error:
"The folder 'http://www.alpenfest.com/' isn't accessible. The folder
may be located in an unavailable location, protected with a password,
or the filename contains a / or \."

What's strange is that I can successfully make a Network Place to
http://people.smu.edu/acambre/, which is on an IIS 5.0 server with FPSE
2002. I can also open http://people.smu.edu/acambre/ with FrontPage
2003 even if I first delete the site's entry from My Network Places.

On a different Windows XP Professional box, which is set up very
similarly except that it is a member of a corporate domain, I am able
to open http://www.alpenfest.com/ just fine.

Why would installing Office 2003 on my home machine cause FrontPage and
My Network Places to no longer be able to open this site?

You can test this out yourself in FrontPage and My Network Places. If
you are asked for a username and password, it works. If you are given
an error message before you are even prompted for a username and
password, it doesn't work.

Since this is a very fresh, very clean installation of Windows XP, I am
loathe to think that there is something I did wrong. The fact of the
matter is that I was able to create a "Network Place" to
http://www.alpenfest.com immediately before installing Office 2003, but
after installing it and rebooting I was no longer able to open that
site.

What could be going on here?

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Delete the Web Folder, then open the site in IE, then Edit with FP and see if that works.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

Strange, that seemed to work. Why can I open it this way but not through
File-->Open Web? And why did My Network Places stop being able to add this
as a network place once I installed Office 2003?

Aren

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Your web folder should now have been recreated, and you should be able to open your web / site via
File Menu | Open Web.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Nova SS]

Strangely, it seems to work now. Thanks for your assistance.

Aren

 

[Nova SS]

Well, now it gets bizarre. I was working on a subweb of the
http://www.alpenfest.com site. Let's call it
http://www.alpenfest.com/alp_test/. I was humming away happily at
editing, and had just successfully edited two files. After editing a
third file, I got a strange error. Now I have rebooted my computer,
and when I try to load the subweb, I get this bizarre error:

The page cannot be found
The page cannot be found The page you are looking for might have
been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Please try the following: Make sure that the Web site address
displayed in the address bar of your browser is spelled and formatted
correctly. If you reached this page by clicking a link, contact the
Web site administrator to alert them that the link is incorrectly
formatted. Click the Back button to try another link. HTTP Error 404
- File or directory not found.Internet Information Services (IIS)
Technical Information (for support personnel) Go to Microsoft Product
Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and
404. Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and
search for topics titled Web Site Setup, Common Administrative Tasks,
and About Custom Error Messages.

What's completly strange is that if I go to this subweb in my web
browser, I get the subweb with the two updated files. If I go to one
of these updated files and try to open it by clicking on the Edit with
Microsoft Office FrontPage icon in IE, FrontPage loads the page from
the downloaded source code without even trying to open it directly off
the server.

Aren