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IE downloads don't work

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by mark

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OK, this is the third time I've tried to get this answered. I know of 3 different PCs with a similar problem. Downloads won't work in IE.
When clicking on a file to download in IE 5.5, the download doesn't start. Instead a browser window opens witha small icon. I can backup and then right click and choose "Save Target As" and then it will download properly. But some sites use a graphic that cannot be right clicked. I believe it to be a registry problem dealing with file types but can't seem to figure it out. Initially the icon seemed related to Quicktime, so I uninstalled quicktime. Now the icon seems associated with Active X. If the extension is PDF it works fine because I have Adobe Reader installed and it launches it's plugin. On one of the PCs the problem is with PDF. I can reassociate the PDF and it opens fine from a folder, but in IE, it just gives the icon and doesn't download. On another PC the problem is with EXE extensions. Perhaps this is a plugin association problem? Anyway, another person I know has the problem too, but we can't seem to figure out the fix. I am sure there is some kind of registry association for IE that tells IE what to do with the file, but I don't know the key. On my PC the problem is with EXE files. PDF, ZIP, etc. work fine. On another PC the problem is only with PDF files. Can anyone point me to a registry hack that will fix this?

6 replies

by sylvainns

In the case where PDF causes the problem, try this:

Open Adobe Reader, click file, then preferences and finally general.

If "Web Browser Integration" option is checked,
uncheck it, close adobe reader, close IE 5.5, restart it and try again.

by shanghai sam

I'm looking for the registry hack fix. The one with the PDF problem is offsite so I can't try it easily. Since this seems to be a problem I will see over and over again I am looking for the registry fix so I can fix any file extension problem. I have a PC here with the EXE extension download problem so I can try fixing that with any suggestions anyone can give me. If I can fix this one, I feel sure I can fix the others. I could probably fix the adobe problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling to reset the plugin registry changes. It's not so easy with the EXE extension.

by csiple

Start-->Run Type Regedit. Once in the registry your looking for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Plugins\Extension\.exe

If you have this key then that is most likely your problem... Just delete it. The change is dynamic, you shouldn't have to restart or anything like that...

Hope this helps...

by shanghai sam

Gosh, that was too easy. I can't believe it took this long for me to get that answer. Even more surprised I didn't look a little harder for that manually. Seems obvious. Anyway, thanks a bundle. You just made my life a bit easier.

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