Internet shortcuts do not work after ME to XP Pro SP2 upgrade...

[Dalamar]

One other question that I hope someone might be able to help me with...

I recently installed XP Pro SP2 over ME. One thing that I immediately
noticed is that my internet shortcuts do not work when created using the
context menu. I get a message saying "This file does not have an program
associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in
the Folder Options control panel."

I went into folder options and made sure that the "Internet Shortcut" &
"URL" file types were associated with Internet Explorer. No problem there.
However, I have noticed that there are a very few internet shortcuts that
do still work. These working shortcuts were created by my ISP's install
software and look completely different when I select "Properties" from the
context menu.

Looking at the "Properties" of a working shortcut, I notice that under the
"Web Shortcut" tab it has...

Target: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"
http://www.yahoo.com

While the shortcuts that do not work (created by using the context menu),
do not have a "Web Shortcut" tab. Instead, they have a "Web Document" tab
and the target format looks like...

URL: http://www.yahoo.com

Therefore, I am led to believe that the problem may be in the registry
instead of the file type associations but I could be wrong. It seems as
though after the XP install, the registry entries were not properly
changed & are causing XP to create internet shortcuts in the Millenium
Edition fashion...but as I said I could be wrong...just an educated guess.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this? And if so,
how to correct it? If this is a case of an unchanged ME-to-XP reg entry,
how would I go about correcting it? I have searched through the registry
but was unable to locate the correct reg key. I have also searched the
Microsoft KB and Googled for this but have come up short-handed.

Any help anyone could give would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Dalamar,

The 1st one is a "Shortcut" (.LNK file) and the 2nd file showing the "Web
Document" tab is actually a .URL file (Internet Shortcuts). See if the .URL
association fix from here helps:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

If that does not help, click Start, Run and type "REGSVR32 /i SHDOCVW.DLL"
(without quotes), and press Enter.

Then, open Control Panel, double-click Internet Options. Select the Programs
tab and click "Reset Web Settings". Follow the prompts and complete the
process.

 

[Dalamar]

Hi Dalamar,

The 1st one is a "Shortcut" (.LNK file) and the 2nd file showing the
"Web Document" tab is actually a .URL file (Internet Shortcuts). See if
the .URL association fix from here helps:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

If that does not help, click Start, Run and type "REGSVR32 /i
SHDOCVW.DLL" (without quotes), and press Enter.

Then, open Control Panel, double-click Internet Options. Select the
Programs tab and click "Reset Web Settings". Follow the prompts and
complete the process.

Thank you very much!!! They work perfectly now after downloading the reg fix
for the .LNK file.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Thanks for the feedback Dalamar. I guess you applied the .URL fix.

 

[Dalamar]

Thanks for the feedback Dalamar. I guess you applied the .URL fix.

Hmmm...actually the fix didn't completely work. I just realized that after
the reg fix, if an internet browser is open (IE or Firefox) the links in
question work fine but if there is not one open, the links fail to work.

I had applied the reg fixes for both URL & LNK files type associations that
you suggested but then decided to restore my registry to an earlier time as a
test but got the same results.

I guess the questions now are; aren't URL shortcut links supposed to open
your default browser when they are double-clicked just as the LNKs do? If so,
I wonder how to fix it as the reg-fix supplied made no difference.

Thanks again for any help!
~Dalamar

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Have you tried the two other methods suggested earlier?

 

[Dalamar]

Have you tried the two other methods suggested earlier?

Yes I did. I tried both the URL & LNK reg fixes from the web site, if that is
what you are refering to. I also ran the BAT file that reconfigures all file
assciations back to the original specs but no luck.

~Dalamar

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Look at my 1st reply, at the bottom. I've included two command-lines.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Dalamar,

Try the edit on line 368 (right hand side):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Dalamar]

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Thanks Kelly but no luck. However, your site is definitely going in my
bookmarks! Excellent work.

 

[Dalamar]

Look at my 1st reply, at the bottom. I've included two command-lines.

That did it Ramesh! Thank you! Might I ask excatly what the command line
switch "/i" is for?

Cheerz!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Nice to hear that. The "/i" calls the DllInstall of that file. Registering
the Shdocvw.dll repairs most of the IE file association settings.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...ndowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/regsvr32.asp

 

[Kelly]

Thank you!

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com