ActiveX's won't download in IE (no Info bar)

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

PA Bear:

Run a thorough check for hijackware, including posting your HijackThis log
to an appropriate forum for review by an expert, Lars-Erik.

Reguallery use both Spybot S&D, AdAware, Microsoft Anti-Spyware and
XsoftSpy. No one reports anything strange. What should I look for?

 

[Ottmar Freudenberger]

Ottmar Freudenberger:


Nope, besides I tried disabling it.

Did you tried it with having the AV scanner uninstalled - at least
for test purposes?

WebWasher has that feature, but I disabled that too (disabled
everything to be sure).

The same here: try uninstalling WebWasher temporary.

What should I look for?

Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Internet Control Panel\Security Page\Internet Zone
Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Internet Control Panel\Security Page\Locked-Down Internet Zone
"Run ActiveX controls and plugins"

Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Security Features\Add-on Management

Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Policies\Ext\CLSID

Bye,
Freudi

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Torgeir Bakken (MVP):

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

What happends on a computer with dual-boot (Win98se on first
partition, WinXP on 2nd). Will XP mess-up the MBR so that the dual
boot will be destroyed, or will it only touch the partition with XP.
Or must I do things (disable the Win98 partation while repairing)

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Ottmar Freudenberger:

Did you tried it with having the AV scanner uninstalled - at least
for test purposes?

Yep, and the one PC doesn't have the same AV (and the third PC that
works OK does have the same AV with same setting as the 2nd

The same here: try uninstalling WebWasher temporary.

Yep, on both PCs not working (3rd working PC also has WebWasher).

Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Internet Control Panel\Security Page\Internet Zone
Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Internet Control Panel\Security Page\Locked-Down Internet Zone
"Run ActiveX controls and plugins"

Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\
Security Features\Add-on Management

Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Policies\Ext\CLSID

What values should be here (found no differences from the working PC)
Also I tried reinstalling SP2. That didn't help either.

Haven't done a "repair install" yet. Need to find out what to do with
my dual-boot first (so XP setup doesn't mess up my Win98 partition).

 

[Ottmar Freudenberger]

Yep, and the one PC doesn't have the same AV (and the third PC that
works OK does have the same AV with same setting as the 2nd

So you did uninstall the AV scanner?

Yep, on both PCs not working (3rd working PC also has WebWasher).
Uninstalled?


What values should be here

For the Group Policies "not configured" and the registry key
shouldn't even exist if you don't use Group Policies.

Also I tried reinstalling SP2. That didn't help either.

That won't help if the applications running in the background
causing the problem nor does it help if the registry/a GRPOL
is responsible for the problems you ran into.

BTW:
You've tried resetting the values for the Internet zone already,
didn't you? Does ActiveX work if you put a site into the Trusted
Sites zone?

Bye,
Freudi

 

[Guest]

I have a problem like the Lars-Erik one and I read this post and anothers and
I tried all the posible solutions without get the solution.

I have 2 active-X that they do not work (ActiveScan from PandaSoftware ( a
online antivirus that I used a lot of times and after many weeks it stopped
working) ) and the Microsoft® File Transfer Manager that I begin to try to
use 1 week ago and that it never worked, but ... others ActiveX works well.

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Ottmar Freudenberger:

So you did uninstall the AV scanner?

Removed from system. No hooks to the OS. On the computer with avast!
On the other I can't do that (job PC where AV can't be uninstalled,
but again disabled, and on the other job PC with same AV things work)

Uninstalled?

On both non-working (on the working one WW is also installed btw).

For the Group Policies "not configured" and the registry key
shouldn't even exist if you don't use Group Policies.

That is right for all 3 systems.

That won't help if the applications running in the background
causing the problem nor does it help if the registry/a GRPOL
is responsible for the problems you ran into.

All processes I can stop is stopped. What services/programs could
affect the download of ActiveX'es (the strange thing is that it is
only the download - if I copy the ActiveX'es from the working computer
they do run and work, IE just doesn't even try to download them

You've tried resetting the values for the Internet zone already,
didn't you? Does ActiveX work if you put a site into the Trusted
Sites zone?

ActiveX'es run IF I copy them from another PC (that have downloaded
them). Had to do this to make Windows Update work at all :-/

The problem seems to be that IE doesn't try to download them. Not even
when the site is in the trusted zone. No Information bar, but that
might just be because IE6 doesn't try to download the ActiveX.

So what could "stop" IE6 from trying to download ActiveX'es. What
should I look for (registry and other things). Have removed AV, ZA and
WebWasher and that didn't help. Where else should I look?

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

I have a problem like the Lars-Erik one and I read this post and anothers and

I tried all the posible solutions without get the solution.

The strange thing here is that the ActiveXes them selves do work.
If I copy them from a computer that have downloaded them OK.
Had to do this with Windows Update and Genuine Windows Auth.

So the problem here is the download. Internet Explorer seems not to
even try to download any new ActiveXes. Not even if the site is added
to "Trusted sites" or the settings for "Internet" is set wide open.

So I don't think it has antything to do with either the execution of
ActiveXes NOT the missing Information Bar (last one is missings just
because IE is not even trying to download any ActiveXes at all).

But WHY is it not trying to download them. Argggghhhh. :-/

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

....

Has been like this for a long time. And I'm getting sick of it.
It doesn't help turing off all security either (no prompting).

Instead of "no prompting" have you tried maximal prompting?
E.g. using Security tab, Custom Level... Security Settings dialog
change all settings which are currently Enable (green dot)
to Prompt. E.g. essentially type P, look for green dot beside Enable
and press Spacebar; repeat to end of options. Do that on both
systems, the one which works properly and the one which is failing.
Open the problem page on both systems, taking note of the number
and sequence of prompts. Compare results. If necessary,
you can do exactly the same thing with the Advanced Privacy Settings
dialog to ensure you are getting prompts for accepting Cookies too.

Even better if you have a script debugger would be tracing the scripts
as they are encountered. Unfortunately I haven't found a way just
to *record* the traced execution so that analysis can get a bit tedious.

Seems like it doesn't even try downloading any ActivX'es.
And I can't find where this setting is (have tried to compare
registry with the laptop where ActiveX still can be downloaded).

Reminds me of trying to debug why I can't use the the Windows Update
Catalog--keep getting Administrators Only symptom and there is no
attempt as far as I can see to even check properly.

However, "compare registry" may not be the most effective way to do
such a comparison. What I would do is use RegMon and FileMon
and compare their traces on the two cases. To try to make the analysis
manageable you could start by using some fairly restrictive filtering,
e.g perhaps just checking to see which .dlls are being referenced.
Another thing to be aware of is that FileMon may only show you accesses
of the .dlls being loaded, so to be sure that you are capturing all such accesses
you probably will want to start the traces before any iexplore.exe is running.


If you have a specific scenario to trace others could try tracing it too
and see what common clues they come up with for it. E.g. if your
list of .dlls being loaded is different from their list that could be used
as a signal to see if that .dll is registerable and if so try re-registering it.
Etc.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

 

[Guest]

I have a problem like the Lars-Erik one and I read this post and anothers and
I tried all the posible solutions without get the solution.

I'm sorry, but my problem is not as Lars-Erik one. I can download the
ActiveX, but they do not execute.

 

[PA Bear]

As posted earlier in one of your threads:

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html, http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or
other appropriate forums for expert analysis, not here.**

 

[Guest]

Lars-Erik,
I have the same problem. I am following all the advise you have been
getting, but also cannot find a solution. Please let me know if you find
something that works.

Tom

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Still haven't gotten anyway with this. But now I have a news laptop
with XP SP2 setup, and things work there (all setting the same
otherwise), AND I was wondering if anyone now what DLL's could affect
the ActiveX download. If you have any idea I could compare with the
new PC to see if there is any missing or wrong version DLL's...

 

[Rob Parsons]

Hi Lars,

There are a number of reasons why an ActiveX control will not be installed.
There is a Group Policy that restricts certain controls (gpedit.msc).
There is also a listing that is updated from MS so one of your puters may be
missing a security update from MS.

Here is a link to a free-ware tool to list your ActiveX Compatibility values
for IE

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/acm.html

 

[PA Bear]

Some possibilities:

ActiveX controls may not load as expected in Internet Explorer due to
defense in depth changes introduced in cumulative security update 896688
(MS05-052): http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=909889

A Web page that contains a custom ActiveX control may not load as expected
in Internet Explorer due to defense in depth changes introduced in
cumulative security update 896688 (MS05-052):
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=909738

The fix detailed in 909889 involving the Registry and OLE32.DLL is available
at http://patch-info.de/IE/Downloads/OLEfix.zip and
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/kb896688_fix.zip (a small VB app that
checks the 4 values and offers a repair option if any of them are
incorrect).

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Rob Parsons:

There are a number of reasons why an ActiveX control will not be installed.
There is a Group Policy that restricts certain controls (gpedit.msc).

Checked and compared with working PCs. No restrictions found.

There is also a listing that is updated from MS so one of your puters may be
missing a security update from MS.

All updates installed on both.

Here is a link to a free-ware tool to list your ActiveX Compatibility values
for IE

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/acm.html

Can I use this to compare the settings on the two systems working with
the two systems not working to look for any differences?

I still can see why this happened. The 4 system are otherwise equal
(same programs, same settings, same tweaks and other stuff as well)

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Rob Parsons:

Here is a link to a free-ware tool to list your ActiveX Compatibility values
for IE

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/acm.html

Exacly the same ActiveX'es were enabled on both systems.
Found one file with different version (Microsoft Forms DLL, FM20.DLL)
Don't know what that does, but can copy from the working to the
non-working...

And again, all ActiveX'es work if I copy them to the machine, it's
just downloading them that does not work - doesn't even try dl'ing :-(

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

PA Bear:

ActiveX controls may not load as expected in Internet Explorer due to
defense in depth changes introduced in cumulative security update 896688
(MS05-052): http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=909889

Problem is not loading them. If I copy from a PC that downloads
ActivX'es they work (had to do this with WindowsUpdate to make it
work). Problem is when accessing a web-site where a new ActiveX should
be downloaded. It is not. I don't even think it tries. Even when the
site is in "Trusted" and all settings lowered it doesn't get it :-(

And I find no policies or registry entries (have checked all I know of
that can restrict download, and compared to the working system).

Also have tried all patches suggesten here and from Microsoft Norway.

(of, if only someone had a list of DLLs and regsitry entries that are
used in the process of downloading ActiveX, but not even Microsoft
sould get that they said - but obviously someone must know this

 

[Rob Parsons]

Hi Lars,

Exactly what do you want to do? Are you a developer trying to embed your own
ActiveX in a web page?? It won't upgrade with your new version?

Here is a msdn article about packaging activeX

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/components/activex/packaging.asp

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Rob Parsons:

Exactly what do you want to do? Are you a developer trying to embed your own
ActiveX in a web page?? It won't upgrade with your new version?

No, two of my PCs (at work and home) just won't download new ActiveX
components from any web-site anymore (had to copy the WindowsUpdate
ActiveX from another system to even keep my system updated).

ActiveX'es run OK, IE6 just don't want to download new ones from
web-sites. Not even if all security settings are lowest or if the site
is in the Trusted zone. No questions, no download, no error message
(except from the web pages that complain because the isn't there).

And I think I have tried everything now (both suggestion from news,
and from Microsoft Norway), but nothing helps (and MS just wants me to
reinstall XP).

But I still this must be a case of one or more DLLs or registry
settings missing or beeing corrupt, but NO ONE seems to know what DLLs
or registry entries that could cause this malfunction in IE6 :-(