Here's a cool state of affairs.

[George Hester]

I run into these things all the time when I try to fix a problem. It's kind
of funny. I'll tell you my problem explain the process that lead to this
state of affarirs. I hope this helps any that also want this fix:

I was at eBay and tried to save a auction page as a mht in Windows 2000 SP4
Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4. The Save as ... failed. It was an exception
violation which of course closes all open browsers. It sucks. I believe
this will happen at any eBay auction page but cannot test right now for sure
because I can't lose my open browsers if it succeeeds (fails???).

Try this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5126714342&ssPageNam
e=STRK:MEWA:IT

Try to save that as a mht in Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4 in Windows 2000.
You should crash.

Now I found this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816868

In here you'll see that this is a fix for all IE browsers compatible with
Windows 2000. Note this article is specfic to certain files in Windows
2000'ds IE installation namely urlmon.dll which is where iexplorer.exe
throws up at the link I provided at eBay. So let's install this and be done
with it. Might work might not but cannot hurt to try.

Well none of the links in that article work. Bummer. But they do give the
file name:

IE5.01sp4-KB871260-Windows2000sp4-x86-ENU.exe

So let's see if we can't pull out its location.

Googling gives this:

http://www.google.com/search?q=IE5.01sp4-KB871260-Windows2000sp4-x86-ENU.exe

Aha we get the previous article and a new one. Namely this one:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=871260

Now we are on a roll. For you will see they are the same. So the link in
the first article althouh bad is really:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/0/c/50c42d0e-07a8-4a2b-befb-1a403bd
0df96/IE5.01sp4-KB871260-Windows2000sp4-x86-ENU.exe

The only trouble with this is that installing it will get you all the
security updates for IE that have come out recently which may not be a good
thing. The first article was specific to an Error message whereas the same
file available elsewhere is now bloated.

Well you have the link to it and can install it I suppose if you want. I'm
going to wait a bit just to be sure there is safety in this one. And then
see if the above eBay link still fails.

 

[Leythos]

Well you have the link to it and can install it I suppose if you want. I'm
going to wait a bit just to be sure there is safety in this one. And then
see if the above eBay link still fails.

Install IE6, updates, windows updates, and try again.

 

[George Hester]

As a continuation of my post you will notice in the first page where the
links were dead there was further work that needed to be done once the
hotrfix for the IE 5.x browsers were hotfixed in the Registry. You will
note that the page with the working link does NOT include the additional
work. So it is relatively easy to see if the working page security fix
really is right by just verifyig the location in the registry as pointed out
in the dead links page.

Umm..Leythos. If I wanted IE 6 I'd have IE 6. But I don't so I don't.
Thanks anyway.

 

[Colon Terminus]

As a continuation of my post you will notice in the first page where the
links were dead there was further work that needed to be done once the
hotrfix for the IE 5.x browsers were hotfixed in the Registry. You will
note that the page with the working link does NOT include the additional
work. So it is relatively easy to see if the working page security fix
really is right by just verifyig the location in the registry as pointed out
in the dead links page.

Umm..Leythos. If I wanted IE 6 I'd have IE 6. But I don't so I don't.
Thanks anyway.

Boy, I heard that.
Microsoft hit the apex with IE 5.01, its gone steadily downhill since then.
IE 5.01 is not only the best browser but also the fastest by a fair margin,
irrespective of the claims from Opera. I even switched from Quickbooks to
Peachtree 'cause Intuit wanted to dictate to me which browser I had to use
and wanted me to upgrade to IE 5.5 just so I could use their software. I
ain't givin' up my IE 5.01, nosiree, not for nobody. Well, maybe Longhorn,
we'll wait and see.
I've tried IE 5.5, IE 6, Netscape in various flavors, Firefox, Opera and
several more obscure browsers. IE 5.01 is simply the very best browser for
Windows 2000. Period.

 

[George Hester]

Hmmm there is another one:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72dbe239-af0a-42b5-
b88c-a00371f6ec81&displaylang=en

This one is KB834707 not KB871260 but both the same thing.

Decisons decisions decisions.

 

[George Hester]

Yes fast I didn't realize the dog those other browsers IE 6 and 5.5 are
until I started using IE 5.01 again full time. They are dogs I can tell
you. Slow as crap. I made a web page that was designed for Netscape 4.08.
I made it compatible with IE too. What you do is select some text in a web
page with the mouse and when you release the mouse a popup appears with the
text you selected in it. The popup apears in a split second in IE 5.01 and
Netscape 4.08. In IE 5.5 it can take up to a minute to appear. Now what do
the brain surgeons say about that?

IE 6 has a nasty incompatibility in Windows 2000. Documented.

I don't know about any issues with IE 5.5 in Windows 2000 but I can tell you
it is pokey and right along with it OEX 5.5. POKEY.

 

[Gary Smith]

IE 6 has a nasty incompatibility in Windows 2000. Documented.

Details, please?

 

[Leythos]

IE 6 has a nasty incompatibility in Windows 2000. Documented.

Not so quick, post your documents. I have several Windows 2000
workstations, even a laptop, and run IE 6, all the latest updates, and
even development packages, office 2003, etc... Not one problem with IE 6
that I can see.

Before moving to XP on most of our systems we ran 2000 and IE6, never
had a problem that I could identify.

We now run FireFox mostly, but still have IE6 installed on everything.

 

[George Hester]

How many incompatibilities of IE 6 with Windows 2000 that I can point out would be sufficient to convince "you" that there are? Let's do the documentation. Here's two there are more:

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;821164

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824136

Notice the second one is specific to Windows XP and Windows 2000. Why? Well because they have IE 6 in common when this issue occurs.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=h...=unx#[email protected]&rnum=2

There are many more. This is just a smattering of the issues with Windows 2000 and IE 6 installed. Colon is correct. And hopefully I have pointed out some reasons why he is.

 

[Leythos]

How many incompatibilities of IE 6 with Windows 2000 that I can point out would be sufficient to convince "you" that there are? Let's do the documentation. Here's two there are more:

I think you misunderstood, I know that there are issues, but I've not
seen any cases of them on properly configured systems hitting any
quality websites. I was hoping you could point to a website or some
other item in specific that impacts YOUR installation so that I could
see if it also impacts my installations.

You might want to set your newsreader to break lines at 72/76 characters
as is the Usenet norm.

 

[George Hester]

I cannot read your mind. I said, "There are incompatibilities of IE 6 and Windows 2000. Documented" You said, " ..post your documents." I did just that.
Now you want something more

If you are unhappy wih the Documents I posted bring
it up with those that have experienced these issues. I have provided what you asked for.

 

[Leythos]

I cannot read your mind. I said, "There are incompatibilities of IE 6 and Windows 2000. Documented" You said, " ..post your documents." I did just that.
Now you want something more

If you are unhappy wih the Documents I posted bring
it up with those that have experienced these issues. I have provided what you asked for.

Yea, I could have opened my Technet and found IE6 issues and IE5 and IE
4 and so forth. Since you complained about it, I just figured you had
your own specific issues and were not just spouting stuff from the
internet that others have posted.

 

[George Hester]

I am not sure what you mean when you say, "I just figured you had your own
specific issues and were not just spouting stuff from the internet that
others have posted."

Do you think I posted those articles for you because I saw someone else who
posted those articles and just thought it would be cool to re-spout them?
Even if that is the case so what?

Would you like to know what my specific issue was? Well sure the first
article WAS my specific issue and in fact it was shortly after we (Microsoft
and I) figured out what the trouble was that that article was approved and
posted. It took us nearly 4 months to figure ou what the trouble was. That
article is incomplete. We decided it was a race condition in mshtml. New
in IE 6. But in fact it is not restricted to IE 6. It happens due to that
yes but also Cummunlative Security updates that came out in the first half
of 2003.

There are other issues from installing IE 6 in Windows 2000. But I can tell
you are happy with it and so everyone else either must be also or is just
"spouting." In light of that I don't think going over any of the others
will be productive. All my observations in this regard are User specific
and so that's that.

 

[Leythos]

Would you like to know what my specific issue was? Well sure the first
article WAS my specific issue and in fact it was shortly after we (Microsoft
and I) figured out what the trouble was that that article was approved and
posted. It took us nearly 4 months to figure ou what the trouble was. That
article is incomplete. We decided it was a race condition in mshtml. New
in IE 6. But in fact it is not restricted to IE 6. It happens due to that
yes but also Cummunlative Security updates that came out in the first half
of 2003.

There are other issues from installing IE 6 in Windows 2000. But I can tell
you are happy with it and so everyone else either must be also or is just
"spouting." In light of that I don't think going over any of the others
will be productive. All my observations in this regard are User specific
and so that's that.

Look, I just wanted to know what your specific issue was, to see if
there was something I could learn from it, something that might benefit
trouble shooting down the line somewhere. Since we code many shtlm pages
and don't see any issues with IE 6, I'm more interested in what you
found that caused the problem.

In an earlier post you said there were a lot of problem, then you
mention the above as being specific to your user. I would still like to
know more about it - I do a lot of coding for dynamic sites in many
languages on many platforms.

 

[George Hester]

No you will not "see" the issues just by browsing with IE 6 to a website.
That is not where the issues occur. They are not specific to IE 6 or
Windows 2000 alone. They are specific to IE 6 installed in Windows 2000.
The issues may have nothing to do with browsing. They can exhibit
themselves in the way those articles described. For example selecting a
folder\file in Windows Explorer; accessing a XML in the browser many many
many times for edit work. And even then it is not the browser where the
issues occur but in Windows Explorer. Exception errors out the whazoo. Due
to a race condition in mshtml. The fix (works often) was to do what the
first article suggested but that is just a work around. There is no fix.
The only fix is to remove IE 6 and even that is not a fix because just by
installing IE 6 you have changed your shell and it is changed forever
removing IE 6 or not. The issues that occur you may not even know it had
anything to do with a browser. As far as you might be able to tell you
might just think you have a sick system. That's it.

Let you in a little known secret. Why do you think Web View was removed
from Windows XP? Do you know what browser comes with Windows XP? Well now
there is your answer. Because Web View and Internet Explorer 6 (Windows
2000) are arch enemies the effect of that battle sometimes and sometimes not
made evident by Windows Explorer crashing with Exception errors 0x000000C.

 

[Leythos]

No you will not "see" the issues just by browsing with IE 6 to a website.
That is not where the issues occur. They are not specific to IE 6 or
Windows 2000 alone. They are specific to IE 6 installed in Windows 2000.
The issues may have nothing to do with browsing. They can exhibit
themselves in the way those articles described. For example selecting a
folder\file in Windows Explorer; accessing a XML in the browser many many
many times for edit work. And even then it is not the browser where the
issues occur but in Windows Explorer. Exception errors out the whazoo. Due
to a race condition in mshtml. The fix (works often) was to do what the
first article suggested but that is just a work around. There is no fix.
The only fix is to remove IE 6 and even that is not a fix because just by
installing IE 6 you have changed your shell and it is changed forever
removing IE 6 or not. The issues that occur you may not even know it had
anything to do with a browser. As far as you might be able to tell you
might just think you have a sick system. That's it.

Let you in a little known secret. Why do you think Web View was removed
from Windows XP? Do you know what browser comes with Windows XP? Well now
there is your answer. Because Web View and Internet Explorer 6 (Windows
2000) are arch enemies the effect of that battle sometimes and sometimes not
made evident by Windows Explorer crashing with Exception errors 0x000000C.

George - thanks for the info. I will take a look on my systems, with
2000 and IE6 and see if I can replicate it. We do a lot of web design
work and xml also.

 

[George Hester]

OK this is how you test it for this vulnerability. This will happen acually
with any MSIE browser in Windows 2000. It is just exacerbated with IE 6.

Open Windows Explorer. Navigate to a XML file and double-click it. Do not
close Windows Explorer. IE will open the XML if it is well formed. Now
close it. Do this again and again and again. Do it a number of times. For
this issue to appear you must make sure you have in the registry this key
and value:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml\ShellEx

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}
Name: (Default)
Type: REG_SZ
Data: {EAB841A0-9550-11cf-8C16-00805F1408F3}

This is the default in all Windows 2000 systems. This is Web View. This is
supposed to give a thumbnail image of the file selected in Windows Explorer.
It doesn't work and never has worked. If you look at the same location
under:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg

you will see the same thing. But thumbnail does work for jpg files. Also
html, mht. Not for XML and txt. But the failure of this Web View for txt
files is innocuous. But for XML can be a show stopper. You'll crash the
shell.

Anyway at some point just touching that XML file or trying to select some
other item in Windows Explorer will crash the shell. Just hitting a + to
expand a folder will also do it.

I don't know if Microsoft was able to replicate the issue. All I know is my
support professional at Microsoft had the solution and directed me to the
first article I posted for you. But as Web View is now ancient history I
doubt there will ever be any more movement on the issue.

The fix (workaround) is to remove the Data value to nothing.

 

[Leythos]

OK this is how you test it for this vulnerability. This will happen acually
with any MSIE browser in Windows 2000. It is just exacerbated with IE 6.

Open Windows Explorer. Navigate to a XML file and double-click it. Do not
close Windows Explorer. IE will open the XML if it is well formed. Now
close it. Do this again and again and again. Do it a number of times. For
this issue to appear you must make sure you have in the registry this key
and value:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml\ShellEx

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}
Name: (Default)
Type: REG_SZ
Data: {EAB841A0-9550-11cf-8C16-00805F1408F3}

This is the default in all Windows 2000 systems. This is Web View. This is
supposed to give a thumbnail image of the file selected in Windows Explorer.
It doesn't work and never has worked. If you look at the same location
under:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg

you will see the same thing. But thumbnail does work for jpg files. Also
html, mht. Not for XML and txt. But the failure of this Web View for txt
files is innocuous. But for XML can be a show stopper. You'll crash the
shell.

Anyway at some point just touching that XML file or trying to select some
other item in Windows Explorer will crash the shell. Just hitting a + to
expand a folder will also do it.

I don't know if Microsoft was able to replicate the issue. All I know is my
support professional at Microsoft had the solution and directed me to the
first article I posted for you. But as Web View is now ancient history I
doubt there will ever be any more movement on the issue.

The fix (workaround) is to remove the Data value to nothing.

Interesting - I'll send a copy of this to one of our dev teams and have
them try it also.

 

[George Hester]

And don't use a namby-pamby XML. Use a real one like one that uses XSL
Transforms so that you get a HTML page instead of the XML. In any case both
will work to cause the issue. Just not an XML like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

and nothing else.

The larger the XML the quicker the issue will rear its ugly head.