Weird XP/IE6 problem

[SirXcalibur]

IE 6 on a winxp pro pc is not letting me download anything on the main users profile. Everything else seems to be functioning correctly, but when you click on a link to download something, the download window opens and it just sits there on "getting file information" and then eventually gives a error.

However, when I go into safe mode with network support and go in as the administrator, it works fine. As the user, it doesn't.

So whats the problem? Looks like something is messed up in the users settings somewhere, but I can't figure it out!

I have seem mention of this problem on the internet with some searching, but never with the solution.

Can anyone help?

[Cygnus]

It's probably just the user rights (depending on what error you are getting). If you are getting a particular error then including that might help.

I would just check the users rights, or set up a new user with a different configuration and see if that works. You can get there by Clicking Start, Control Panel, and then User Accounts.

[SirXcalibur]

Originally posted by Cygnus
It's probably just the user rights (depending on what error you are getting). If you are getting a particular error then including that might help.

I would just check the users rights, or set up a new user with a different configuration and see if that works. You can get there by Clicking Start, Control Panel, and then User Accounts.

User has full admin privleges on the machine.

[Cygnus]

Did you try ditching the user and creating a new one then? Also, did IE give you any particular error message when the process failed?

[Rellik]

It is possible that the security settings have been changed.

Have a look around the security tab in internet options.

[Rifleman @ Layman's PC]

Even an Administrator can have specific permissions taken away when specified for some reason.
As advised above. I'd create a new Administrator by another name, move all the Documents and Favorites over to the new Administrator and then delete the old one.

Although before doing that, I'd run Spybot S&D. I'd also install any IE updates. Installing any updates may (hopefully) overwrite a corrupted file and fix the problem.

[SirXcalibur]

Doesn't seem like a permissions thing to me.
The IE updates idea is a good one and I will be trying that when I get home.

Other things that I have tried that have not helped have been:
- "unisntalling" Ie from the windows components part of add/remove programs. It only seemsed to get rid of the icon though

- "reinstalling" ie via rightclicking the ie.inf file in the inf directory. Didn't work.

These were suggestions on other forums where people had the same problem.

[jimmm33]

Try reinstalling IE6, run anti-virus and Spybot S&D.

Is there any popup blocking or download manager software running?

[SirXcalibur]

Originally posted by jimmm33
Try reinstalling IE6, run anti-virus and Spybot S&D.

Is there any popup blocking or download manager software running?

Spybot did not find anything. I acully had tried this early on and forgot to mention it. Sorry.
Antivirus did not find anything.

So how does one go about fully reinstalling ie6 in xp then?

[NooNoo]

You don't

It is a permissions issue because it does work in safe mode using the true administrator account. You should just create a new user to test this, then copy over the icons and stuff to the new user and delete the old.

[futuretech]

This link discusses how to re-install IE6 in XP http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_ie_reinstall.htm

[SirXcalibur]

Okay, I will try the reinstallation of IE and then a new user.
There is no way to check or change the permisions of an existing user profile on a local machine?

[Archangel42069]

TAKE NOO'S ADVICE - CREATE THE NEW USER. IT IS A LOT LESS WORK THAN THE REINSTALL, AND IF IT DOESN'T WORK ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS DELETE THE NEW ACCOUNT. IF YOU HOSE THE IE REINSTALL YOU "MAY" HAVE TO REINSTALL XP COMPLETELY. DON'T BE STUBBORN, JUST DO IT THE EASY WAY.

[SirXcalibur]

Thanks very much everyone, its fixed.
Here's what i ended up doing:
- Safe mode: create new user
- logged off, logged on as new users (to create their directory), logged off then logged on as admin again
- Then in system properties, user profiles, I coped the old profile to the new users directory, and delted the old users profile and delted the old user in the control panel - users as well.

Everything worked great with the new user and all settings where exactly the same as before. So maybe it was a permissions thing or a registry screw up. But all is good now.

[dfilas]

Just an FYI to all, we sometimes have had the Content Advisor "feature" mysteriously activate itself when dealing with multiple profiles. It has a bad habit of inhibiting downloads, particularly over 90k in size.