Internet Explorer won't open PDF links :(

[Fred Ma]

Hi,

I've been wrestling with a problem forever (lots of
web browsing to read up on it). The symptoms are
are one of two things. Either Internet Explorer
properly opens up PDF files but prevents me from
saving it, or it complains that

Access to the specified device, path, or file is
denied.

I am using Win2K and MS-IE 6/SP1 with the most recent
windows and MS-IE updates as of today.

It all started when I tried to get MS-IE to open PDF
files (when I click on links to PDF files) outside of
the browser using acrobat reader 5.1. The windows
explorer (i.e. file system browser) does it OK, so the
files association there is fine. I followed advice to
turn off browser integration (or disable the option to
view inside the browser) from with the reader. I also
had to go into the registry and remove:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine]
->Software->Microsoft->InternetExplorer
->Plugins->Extensions

Furthermore, I had to rename all occurances of
nppdf32.dll on my HDD to something else. They were
located at:

/c/Program Files/Plus!/Microsoft Internet/PLUGINS
/c/Program Files/Netscape/Communicator/Program/plugins
/c/Program Files/Adobe/Acrobat 5.0/Reader/Browser

That finally did the trick. I was able to view PDFs
externally. *However*, the reader must be open first
before the PDF will open up in the viewer.

One of the most aggravating things was that the viewer
wouldn't let me save the file. I can't remember the
exact error message (I can't get things to work the
same way anymore), but it said that permission was
denied. Even though I can right-click on the link to
the PDF and save the target, permission was apparently
denied if I opened the PDF directly. That means I can
be browsing and have opened up several PDFs (all with
the filename [embedded file]), but I can't save them.
I have to find my way back to the webpage with the link
and save the target. This got extremely confusing when
I was quickly browsing lots of papers to see which ones
were the most relevant to read. I couldn't very well
dump them all on the HDD first because the file names
were not very descriptive, and I was just taking a
quick comparitive look at a whole bunch of them.

After a long time, enough was enough. I would find a
way to fix the darn problem, even if it meant using
some an netscape browser (Communicator 4.61). Well,
making netscape invoke acroread as a helper wasn't
trivial (and that's in fact how I got to renameing all
the nppdf32.dll files), but eventually, it worked.
Better yet, it didn't prevent me from saving embedded
files like MS-IE did.

However, it has also disabled the ability for MS-IE 6
to invoke the viewer. I don't suppose that one can
have the best of both worlds? Currently, the MS-IE
gives an error when clicking on links to PDFs. It says
"Access to the specified device, path, or file is
denied", and the title of the error message window
gives the path to the PDF that was downloaded:
"c:\WINNT\Profiles\fmadmin\Local Settings\Temporary
Internet Files\Content.IE5\DVYFZTZC\TheFileName.pdf".
I was able to use the cygwin command line interpretter
to go to the directory and view the file, so I know I
have permissions (it's an administrator account, in
case that matters).

Out of curiosity, I tried using the windows explorer to
browse to the file. In order to get to "Local
Settings" folder, I had to make it show hidden files.
Once into "Temporary Internet Files", however, I
couldn't see any folder "Content.IE5". I even tried
turning on visibility of system files (and got a
warning for it). Not sure why it wouldn't be visible,
and whether that might be the reason for the error.
The problem only afflicts MS-IE; things are fine if I
double-click a PDF file in a file browser.

I removed MS-IE using ControlPanel->Add/RemovePrograms,
then downloaded the most recent one (which is the same
version as the one I removed). I told it to reinstall
all components, even though they already existed and
were up-to-date. However, that didn't change anything.

Help?

Fred

 

[Rick]

Uninstall Acrobat Reader 5. Then download and install Acrobat
Reader 6 from Adobe's website.

Unless you have the full Acrobat package, there is no "save" option
for PDF files. But the new version 6 has a "Save a Copy" option
that will allow you to save online PDFs locally.

Rick

Hi,

I've been wrestling with a problem forever (lots of
web browsing to read up on it). The symptoms are
are one of two things. Either Internet Explorer
properly opens up PDF files but prevents me from
saving it, or it complains that

Access to the specified device, path, or file is
denied.

I am using Win2K and MS-IE 6/SP1 with the most recent
windows and MS-IE updates as of today.

It all started when I tried to get MS-IE to open PDF
files (when I click on links to PDF files) outside of
the browser using acrobat reader 5.1. The windows
explorer (i.e. file system browser) does it OK, so the
files association there is fine. I followed advice to
turn off browser integration (or disable the option to
view inside the browser) from with the reader. I also
had to go into the registry and remove:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine]
->Software->Microsoft->InternetExplorer
->Plugins->Extensions

Furthermore, I had to rename all occurances of
nppdf32.dll on my HDD to something else. They were
located at:

/c/Program Files/Plus!/Microsoft Internet/PLUGINS
/c/Program Files/Netscape/Communicator/Program/plugins
/c/Program Files/Adobe/Acrobat 5.0/Reader/Browser

That finally did the trick. I was able to view PDFs
externally. *However*, the reader must be open first
before the PDF will open up in the viewer.

One of the most aggravating things was that the viewer
wouldn't let me save the file. I can't remember the
exact error message (I can't get things to work the
same way anymore), but it said that permission was
denied. Even though I can right-click on the link to
the PDF and save the target, permission was apparently
denied if I opened the PDF directly. That means I can
be browsing and have opened up several PDFs (all with
the filename [embedded file]), but I can't save them.
I have to find my way back to the webpage with the link
and save the target. This got extremely confusing when
I was quickly browsing lots of papers to see which ones
were the most relevant to read. I couldn't very well
dump them all on the HDD first because the file names
were not very descriptive, and I was just taking a
quick comparitive look at a whole bunch of them.

After a long time, enough was enough. I would find a
way to fix the darn problem, even if it meant using
some an netscape browser (Communicator 4.61). Well,
making netscape invoke acroread as a helper wasn't
trivial (and that's in fact how I got to renameing all
the nppdf32.dll files), but eventually, it worked.
Better yet, it didn't prevent me from saving embedded
files like MS-IE did.

However, it has also disabled the ability for MS-IE 6
to invoke the viewer. I don't suppose that one can
have the best of both worlds? Currently, the MS-IE
gives an error when clicking on links to PDFs. It says
"Access to the specified device, path, or file is
denied", and the title of the error message window
gives the path to the PDF that was downloaded:
"c:\WINNT\Profiles\fmadmin\Local Settings\Temporary
Internet Files\Content.IE5\DVYFZTZC\TheFileName.pdf".
I was able to use the cygwin command line interpretter
to go to the directory and view the file, so I know I
have permissions (it's an administrator account, in
case that matters).

Out of curiosity, I tried using the windows explorer to
browse to the file. In order to get to "Local
Settings" folder, I had to make it show hidden files.
Once into "Temporary Internet Files", however, I
couldn't see any folder "Content.IE5". I even tried
turning on visibility of system files (and got a
warning for it). Not sure why it wouldn't be visible,
and whether that might be the reason for the error.
The problem only afflicts MS-IE; things are fine if I
double-click a PDF file in a file browser.

I removed MS-IE using ControlPanel->Add/RemovePrograms,
then downloaded the most recent one (which is the same
version as the one I removed). I told it to reinstall
all components, even though they already existed and
were up-to-date. However, that didn't change anything.

Help?

Fred
--
Fred Ma
Dept. of Electronics, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1S 5B6

 

[Fred Ma]

Uninstall Acrobat Reader 5. Then download and install Acrobat
Reader 6 from Adobe's website.

Unless you have the full Acrobat package, there is no "save" option
for PDF files. But the new version 6 has a "Save a Copy" option
that will allow you to save online PDFs locally.

Rick

I had Reader 6 before. I went back to Reader 5 for a number
of reasons, which I can't recall right now. But Reader 5
has a Save-As option, which works when a PDF link is clicked
using netscape communicator. I even tried uninstalling and
reinstalling acrobat reader 5, to no avail. At the moment,
the problem is no longer the inability to save. It is the
error that access is denied. Presumably access to the PDF
file that was downloaded. And only when using MS-IE. The
details are described in the original post. If I manage to
solve this problem, perhaps I'll be back to the problem of
saving. Come to think of it, might as well try Reader 6.
I've already blown the whole night trying to fix this problem,
what's an extra 10 or 15 minutes....

Fred

 

[Fred Ma]

I had Reader 6 before. I went back to Reader 5 for a number
of reasons, which I can't recall right now. But Reader 5
has a Save-As option, which works when a PDF link is clicked
using netscape communicator. I even tried uninstalling and
reinstalling acrobat reader 5, to no avail. At the moment,
the problem is no longer the inability to save. It is the
error that access is denied. Presumably access to the PDF
file that was downloaded. And only when using MS-IE. The
details are described in the original post. If I manage to
solve this problem, perhaps I'll be back to the problem of
saving. Come to think of it, might as well try Reader 6.
I've already blown the whole night trying to fix this problem,
what's an extra 10 or 15 minutes....

Rick, it worked. And Reader 6 is awesome. It must have been
some problem arising from ignorance that drove me back to
Reader 5 so long ago. I can't believe I spent the whole
night (a night that was meant for thesis work ) trying to
make Reader 5 work. I can't believe I lived with the limitation
for so many months (or has it been years?). Thanks for the
earth shattering advice.

Fred