All Microsoft 'Links' show page without any information

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Hi all,

Something weird happening of late – when I try to access Microsoft support pages, for example by clicking on a link from one of Woody’s articles, or using an URL for “More information” from Windows Update (Control Panel), all I get is a “Microsoft Support” page with various links, but no ‘real’ information.

Happens when using either IE11 or Firefox 56 (see attached screen captures).

Anyone have any idea why and, more importantly, how I can get back to the usual situation of seeing the actual information that should be on the pages like used to be the case.

Cheers,

AusJohn

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Replies

What happens for older articles such as https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054518?

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Exact same thing.

(Sorry, hadn’t logged in when I posted the above reply)

AusJohn

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I recommend restarting your computer and trying again, if you haven’t already done so.

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It’s been happening for the last couple of days – at least – that I know of, and I had restarted the computer more than once in that time.

Anyway, just to be sure I’ve restarted the computer again, but the result’s the same – using your link to an older article or any of several other links.

AusJohn

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If you’re technical enough, you could check the hosts file for the presence of these two domains:

microsoft.com

akamaized.net

and tell us if either is present in the hosts file.

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Neither of them present in the hosts file.

AusJohn

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If you’re able, perhaps you could use Firefox’s Browser Console to tell us if both of the domains mentioned in my previous post are actually having content retrieved from.

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Could it be that you have DOM storage disabled in your browsers?

See Günter Born’s article here.

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BobbyB

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Various site throw a fit with DOM storage disabled. Some have a try catch javascript exception handler, unfortunately their exception handler tries to access DOM storage again and throws an exception. Result: page stuck, 100% CPU.

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MrBrian wrote:

If you’re able, perhaps you could use Firefox’s Browser Console to tell us if both of the domains mentioned in my previous post are actually having content retrieved from.

Not sure if I’m able; have never done it, so it will take quite some time to do if I try it, I assume.

All being well I’ll give it a go later when I’ve got some free time.

AusJohn

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satrow wrote:

Could it be that you have DOM storage disabled in your browsers? See Günter Born’s article here.

As far as I’m aware it’s enabled (see attached screen shot).

Interesting article, but if I’ve got DOM storage enabled as I think I have then it means there is something else causing the problem on my setup.

Just to make things more interesting (or confusing), all’s OK on my wife’s computer which is identical in relation to hardware, and pretty close to the same regarding software (Win 7 SP1, with all except the January 2018 updates).  BUT, obviously, there’s a niggling little difference somewhere that’s causing this frustration.

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MrBrian wrote:

If you’re able, perhaps you could use Firefox’s Browser Console to tell us if both of the domains mentioned in my previous post are actually having content retrieved from.

Well, I’ve had a go at using the Firefox Browser Console and I’m more confused than ever. 🙂

Tried loading:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in

I’ve attached the output I saw in “Firefox Browser Console Output.txt” in case it’s of any interest/use to anyone.

AusJohn

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I’m assuming that page didn’t give the desired results either?

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MrBrian wrote:

I’m assuming that page didn’t give the desired results either?

Correct.  Sorry about that; I was so pleased to be able to capture some output from the Browser Console that I forgot to mention that the page didn’t give the desired results.

The result was as shown in the screen capture attached to my initial post.

AusJohn

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I didn’t see anything wrong in the Browser Console output.

You could perhaps try using yet another browser (such as Opera Portable Edition) and tell us whether the Microsoft pages render ok or not.

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satrow

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MrBrian wrote:

I didn’t see anything wrong in the Browser Console output. You could perhaps try using yet another browser (such as Opera Portable Edition) and tell us whether the Microsoft pages render ok or not.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I’ve downloaded, and installed, Opera Portable version 50.0.2762.45.

The good news, I suppose, is that I can now load the “problem” Microsoft web pages, such as:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in

and

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054518

But that doesn’t answer the question “why can’t I load them in IE11 or Firefox?”.

Especially given, as I mentioned in response to satrow, that they load in IE11 and Firefox on my wife’s computer which is basically setup the same as mine.

Being an inquisitive type, ideally I would really like to have a ‘fix’ for the problem, rather than just a ‘workaround’.

Is there some way (simple if at all possible) that I can compare settings, likely to be causing the problem, between the two computers?

AusJohn

PS. If you’ve used Opera Portable, would you be able to tell me how to set Print defaults such as margins, and headers/footers.  I’ve only had a quick look, but haven’t been able to come up with anything helpful so far.

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You’re welcome :).

I haven’t used Opera in years. My purpose in suggesting that you try Opera Portable was to try to figure out if you’re having a system-wide issue or not.

Could you try Firefox again to check that the Microsoft pages are working or not. If the answer is “not working,” I would suggest that you try those Microsoft pages in Firefox Safe Mode.

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MrBrian wrote:

You’re welcome :). I haven’t used Opera in years. My purpose in suggesting that you try Opera Portable was to try to figure out if you’re having a system-wide issue or not. Could you try Firefox again to check that the Microsoft pages are working or not. If the answer is “not working,” I would suggest that you try those Microsoft pages in Firefox Safe Mode.

1. Checked Firefox again – Microsoft ‘support’ pages not working.  NOTE: Some Microsoft pages load as expected.

2. Checked Firefox in Safe Mode – Microsoft ‘support’ pages not working.

 

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I suggest to try creating a new Firefox profile for testing purposes, and use this new profile to check the rendering of a Microsoft support page.

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MrBrian wrote:

I suggest to try creating a new Firefox profile for testing purposes, and use this new profile to check the rendering of a Microsoft support page.

Thanks, again! 🙂

Created a new profile in Firefox and voila!

The two troublesome Microsoft support pages (URLS above) load/show as expected.

It’s interesting (to me, at least) that the ‘no information/links’ page, that I’ve been seeing and which caused me to start this long thread, can be seen loading before the ‘proper/information’ page.

If you’ve had enough, then please don’t hesitate to say so because you’ve put a lot of time and effort into helping me to date, and I’m sure you have better things to do.

AusJohn

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You’re welcome :).

Did you do a lot of customization in your older Firefox profile? If not, perhaps you could use the new profile and customize it to your liking.

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Another question: Did you have a lot of tabs open when you had these issues in Firefox?

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MrBrian wrote:

You’re welcome :). Did you do a lot of customization in your older Firefox profile? If not, perhaps you could use the new profile and customize it to your liking.

A reasonable amount of customization.

Two thoughts –

either customize the new profile (as time permits), or

only use the new profile when I need to access Microsoft support pages (inconvenient, but a possibility if pressed).

AusJohn

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Address about:support in Firefox lists important changes from default settings.

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MrBrian wrote:

Another question: Did you have a lot of tabs open when you had these issues in Firefox?

No.  The problem existed even with only one tab open.

AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

Address about:support in Firefox lists important changes from default settings.

I’m getting into more trouble than I can handle, I think.

After setting up – and testing – the new profile, which enabled me to see the Microsoft security pages, I closed Firefox (56.0.2).

BTW, one of the changes I had made to my default Firefox profile was to disable automatic updating.

I then started to use the profile manager to revert to my initial profile, but whilst doing so Firefox showed a message about installing/updating.  Anyway, the outcome was that I ended up with Firefox 57.0.4, which I didn’t (and don’t want).

Presumably what happened was that with the ‘new’ profile automatic updating hadn’t been disabled, so Firefox made the most of the opportunity while I was using it and updated for me.

Bottom line – I’ve uninstalled Firefox 57.0.4 and reinstalled 56.0.2 (for which I had a saved copy of the setup file).

All good – except for not being able to see the Microsoft pages – because I had a backup of my Firefox preferences.

Sorry this is dragging on, but I’m including any relevant information in case it’s of any interest/use to you when helping someone in the future.

To that end, attached are the two files saved using “about:support” that you suggested.

“Firefox 56.0.2 yq2z58th.default Trouble Shooting Info [06-Jan-2018].txt” was saved when using my default profile (which doesn’t allowing viewing Microsoft support pages).

“Firefox 56.0.2 ytwenhtd.MS-Support-Test Trouble Shooting Info [06-Jan-2018].txt” was saved when using my new profile (which allows viewing Microsoft support pages).

What’s next?  I’m unsure, because I’m having trouble interpreting lots of the entries in those two files.  What I might do is run Firefox with the new profile, disable automatic updating immediately, then just use that profile when I need to view Microsoft security pages.

Inconvenient, but it’s better than nothing.  Or use Opera Portable now that I’ve got it, because it worked OK.

 

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“…Firefox showed a message about installing/updating.  Anyway, the outcome was that I ended up with Firefox 57.0.4, which I didn’t (and don’t want)…Bottom line – I’ve uninstalled Firefox 57.0.4 and reinstalled 56.0.2…”

I can’t emphasize this enough, please let Firefox reinstall version 57.0.4. It contains a security update against the Meltdown vulnerability that is currently being discussed on this site.

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I noticed that in your Firefox yq2z58th profile that preference dom.storage.enabled is set to false, which is not the default setting. I changed my Firefox preference dom.storage.enabled from true to false, then browsed a Microsoft support page. I got the same undesirable rendering as you did. I believe this setting is the cause of your Firefox issue. You can change this setting if you want by browsing about:config.

Hat tip to satrow :).

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AusJohn

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anonymous wrote:

I can’t emphasize this enough, please let Firefox reinstall version 57.0.4. It contains a security update against the Meltdown vulnerability that is currently being discussed on this site.

Thanks for the advice; much appreciated.

AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

I noticed that in your Firefox yq2z58th profile that preference dom.storage.enabled is set to false, which is not the default setting. I changed my Firefox preference dom.storage.enabled from true to false, then browsed a Microsoft support page. I got the same undesirable rendering as you did. I believe this setting is the cause of your Firefox issue. You can change this setting if you want by browsing about:config. Hat tip to satrow :).

Brilliant; changed the setting in Firefox and all’s good.

Hat tip to both satrow and MrBrian.

Just one lingering annoyance; DOM storage is enabled in my IE11 (see earlier post, above) so there is something still causing the undesirable rendering in it.

AusJohn

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If your wife’s computer’s Internet Explorer renders the Microsoft support pages properly, you could check which settings differ from yours and then change your different settings to match your wife’s until hopefully the Microsoft support pages render properly.

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MrBrian wrote:

If your wife’s computer’s Internet Explorer renders the Microsoft support pages properly, you could check which settings differ from yours and then change your different settings to match your wife’s until hopefully the Microsoft support pages render properly.

Yes, I thought of doing that BUT I don’t know an easy way to get (save to a file) all the settings and then compare them.

If you have time and don’t mind, could you suggest a relatively easy (simple) way to compare settings on the two computers.  For example, are they held in one main registry key that I could export from both computers and then compare?

Thanks again for hanging in on this rather protracted thread; really appreciate your time and expertise.

AusJohn

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You’re welcome :).

Is one of the computers a laptop?

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MrBrian wrote:

You’re welcome :). Is one of the computers a laptop?

Unfortunately, no.  If it was it would have been a simple matter of placing it beside the desktop and doing a compare, but they’re both ‘fixed’ – more or less – desktop computers.

AusJohn

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I don’t have any experience in this area but a Google search for “compare internet explorer settings two computers” (without quotes) gives multiple programs for doing a comparison.

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Is it possible to export the IE settings to a file, and using a text editor (Notepad or similar) to read/compare? It seems it was doable, but it may no longer be.

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Kirsty wrote:

Is it possible to export the IE settings to a file, and using a text editor (Notepad or similar) to read/compare? It seems it was doable, but it may no longer be.

Not quite what I’m after I’m afraid.  I need to export all the IE settings, not just Favorites etc.

However, it is doable using IEDigest; see my post to MrBrian regarding this.

AusJohn

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Kirsty

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MrBrian wrote:

I don’t have any experience in this area but a Google search for “compare internet explorer settings two computers” (without quotes) gives multiple programs for doing a comparison.

I followed your wise advice and did a Google search for “compare internet explorer settings two computers” without the quotes, followed the first suggestion to “IE Compare – compare IE settings between 2 PCs” at – https://forum.sysinternals.com/ie-compare-compare-ie-settings-between-2-pcs_topic28562.html – and from there followed the link to IEDigest at – http://www.iedigest.com/.  Actually, it redirects to http://www.regente.de/IEDigest/, but seemed safe enough.

IEDigest sounded hopeful so I downloaded it, and strange as it may seem the download is from a Microsoft site at – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51694.

Chose iedigest_NET4_195.exe, and it worked fine; no install needed, just run the executable.

That was the easy part, however.

The hard part, for me at least, has been trying to understand/make sense of, all the differences.

One difference which caught my eye, since we’ve discovered that DOM storage, in Firefox at least, is the culprit in preventing rendering of the Microsoft support pages, was:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\Total]
@=dword:00410dd9

The above keys are on my computer, but not my wifes.  This is despite the fact that “Enable DOM storage” is selected under Tools, Internet Options, Advanced on both our computers.

In addition, the keys are not in the “Win7_IE11 reference file” – discovered with the help of the abovementioned IEDigest.

So, I’m wondering if I should live dangerously and export the key and then delete it, then see what happens when I run IE11.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

AusJohn

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I agree that you might be having DOM storage issues in your computer’s Internet Explorer. You could test if it’s functioning by doing the test at http://dev-test.nemikor.com/web-storage/support-test/ on your computer’s Internet Explorer.

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AusJohn

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So, I’m wondering if I should live dangerously and export the key and then delete it, then see what happens when I run IE11.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yes, I do. I checked my registry for the key and entries you found, and I don’t have them. My copy of Internet Exploder also displays the support pages properly, and that’s with the DOM Storage option checked (enabled), so you should be able to dump the key and suffer no ill effects from doing so.

However, in deference to @MrBrian in post 157106 above, and @PKCano in post 157110 below, please try the following before dumping the key:

1. Follow @MrBrian’s guidance, and go to the page to test your DOM storage in IE.

2. If it doesn’t work, and I’m betting it won’t pass the tests, then do as you’ve asked, and export the registry key labeled DOM Storage and then delete it from the registry. Reboot your machine after doing this.

3. After checking that DOM storage is enabled in the Internet Options/Advanced dialog box for IE, go back to the DOM storage test site mentioned by @MrBrian and retest your copy of IE. I’m betting it will work this time and problem solved. If it is indeed solved, you can feel free to delete the file that was created when you exported the key before dumping it.

4. Take a look at programs you may have recently installed on your computer to help you maintain it such as system maintenance/all-in-one utilities. As @PKCano says in the post below (#157110) these types of utilities simply ask you one or two very broad questions about your system and then can make sweeping changes that you won’t notice at first, but that can “break” some of your programs. Some anti-malware/anti-virus programs have added this type of capability to their repertoire recently in the last couple of years, so don’t overlook the anti-malware solution you may have.

I have AVG Free edition, and it has on occasion had a pop-up from the system tray telling me that if I want to speed up my PC and clean out old entries in the registry to just click on a button in the pop-up. I have ALWAYS declined the “offer” and have just clicked on the little “x” in the upper right corner of the pop-ups.

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AusJohn, MrBrian

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I’m wondering if there is some s/w installed (or maybe installed at one time and not fully removed) that allows the user to block certain things (like the one with the Scotty icon/BillP whats-its-name, some Internet security suites, etc) blindly. And the DOM Storage was blocked out of ignorance (just don’t allow anything – click here) since it affects all of the browsers that have been previously installed, but not the Opera portable.

Just throwing out ideas.

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AusJohn, MrBrian, satrow

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In post 157110 above, @PKCano said:

…(like the one with the Scotty icon/BillP whats-its-name, some Internet security suites, etc)…

You mean WinPatrol??  🙂 😉

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Yes, that’s the one. Losing it in my old age!

I fixed the typo

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TYVM!

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MrBrian wrote:

I agree that you might be having DOM storage issues in your computer’s Internet Explorer. You could test if it’s functioning by doing the test at http://dev-test.nemikor.com/web-storage/support-test/ on your computer’s Internet Explorer.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I ran the Web Storage Support Test then, following the advice of ‘anonymous’ – delete the key, reboot, check DOM storage enable in IE – ran it again.

Results (see screen captures) of the test were identical.

Tried loading the Microsoft support pages, but still no luck!

So where does that leave us?  Maybe it’s time to give up, and just use Firefox. 🙂

I don’t like giving up on a problem, but I’m sure all you kind contributors have given up enough of your time trying to solve this.

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Your computer’s IE’s localstorage is not accepting data. When I do the test on my IE, both localstorage and sessionstorage accept data. Perhaps you could try the answer at https://superuser.com/questions/520776/ie10s-localstorage-is-broken.

If that doesn’t work, you could try disabling DOM storage in IE settings, then go back into settings again and enable DOM storage in settings.

P.S. You’re welcome, and I don’t like giving up on a problem either :).

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Info that may be of interest: https://superuser.com/questions/680867/ie10-on-windows-7-where-is-localstorage-stored-in-the-file-system.

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anonymous wrote:

So, I’m wondering if I should live dangerously and export the key and then delete it, then see what happens when I run IE11. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yes, I do. I checked my registry for the key and entries you found, and I don’t have them. My copy of Internet Exploder also displays the support pages properly, and that’s with the DOM Storage option checked (enabled), so you should be able to dump the key and suffer no ill effects from doing so. However, in deference to @mrbrian in post 157106 above, and @pkcano in post 157110 below, please try the following before dumping the key: 1. Follow @mrbrian‘s guidance, and go to the page to test your DOM storage in IE. 2. If it doesn’t work, and I’m betting it won’t pass the tests, then do as you’ve asked, and export the registry key labeled DOM Storage and then delete it from the registry. Reboot your machine after doing this. 3. After checking that DOM storage is enabled in the Internet Options/Advanced dialog box for IE, go back to the DOM storage test site mentioned by @mrbrian and retest your copy of IE. I’m betting it will work this time and problem solved. If it is indeed solved, you can feel free to delete the file that was created when you exported the key before dumping it. 4. Take a look at programs you may have recently installed on your computer to help you maintain it such as system maintenance/all-in-one utilities. As @pkcano says in the post below (#157110) these types of utilities simply ask you one or two very broad questions about your system and then can make sweeping changes that you won’t notice at first, but that can “break” some of your programs. Some anti-malware/anti-virus programs have added this type of capability to their repertoire recently in the last couple of years, so don’t overlook the anti-malware solution you may have. I have AVG Free edition, and it has on occasion had a pop-up from the system tray telling me that if I want to speed up my PC and clean out old entries in the registry to just click on a button in the pop-up. I have ALWAYS declined the “offer” and have just clicked on the little “x” in the upper right corner of the pop-ups.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I ran the Web Storage Support Test then, following your advice – delete the key, reboot, check DOM storage enable in IE – ran it again.

Results (see screen captures) of the test were identical.

Pre.png”]

Web Storage Support Test – Internet Explorer [08-Jan-2018] Pre

Post.png”]

Web Storage Support Test – Internet Explorer [08-Jan-2018] Post

Tried loading the Microsoft support pages, but still no luck!

So where does that leave us?  Maybe it’s time to give up, and just use Firefox.

 

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anonymous wrote:

So, I’m wondering if I should live dangerously and export the key and then delete it, then see what happens when I run IE11. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yes, I do. I checked my registry for the key and entries you found, and I don’t have them. My copy of Internet Exploder also displays the support pages properly, and that’s with the DOM Storage option checked (enabled), so you should be able to dump the key and suffer no ill effects from doing so. However, in deference to @mrbrian in post 157106 above, and @pkcano in post 157110 below, please try the following before dumping the key: 1. Follow @mrbrian‘s guidance, and go to the page to test your DOM storage in IE. 2. If it doesn’t work, and I’m betting it won’t pass the tests, then do as you’ve asked, and export the registry key labeled DOM Storage and then delete it from the registry. Reboot your machine after doing this. 3. After checking that DOM storage is enabled in the Internet Options/Advanced dialog box for IE, go back to the DOM storage test site mentioned by @mrbrian and retest your copy of IE. I’m betting it will work this time and problem solved. If it is indeed solved, you can feel free to delete the file that was created when you exported the key before dumping it. 4. Take a look at programs you may have recently installed on your computer to help you maintain it such as system maintenance/all-in-one utilities. As @pkcano says in the post below (#157110) these types of utilities simply ask you one or two very broad questions about your system and then can make sweeping changes that you won’t notice at first, but that can “break” some of your programs. Some anti-malware/anti-virus programs have added this type of capability to their repertoire recently in the last couple of years, so don’t overlook the anti-malware solution you may have. I have AVG Free edition, and it has on occasion had a pop-up from the system tray telling me that if I want to speed up my PC and clean out old entries in the registry to just click on a button in the pop-up. I have ALWAYS declined the “offer” and have just clicked on the little “x” in the upper right corner of the pop-ups.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I ran the Web Storage Support Test then, following your advice – delete the key, reboot, check DOM storage enable in IE – ran it again.

Results (see screen captures) of the test were identical.

Pre.png”]

Post.png”]

Tried loading the Microsoft support pages, but still no luck!

So where does that leave us?  Maybe it’s time to give up, and just use Firefox.

PS. Sorry, I’m having trouble getting the screen captures to insert/show correctly

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MrBrian wrote:

Your computer’s IE’s localstorage is not accepting data. When I do the test on my IE, both localstorage and sessionstorage accept data. Perhaps you could try the answer at https://superuser.com/questions/520776/ie10s-localstorage-is-broken. If that doesn’t work, you could try disabling DOM storage in IE settings, then go back into settings again and enable DOM storage in settings. P.S. You’re welcome, and I don’t like giving up on a problem either :).

1. Comment after reading the SuperUser article “IE10 on Windows 7, where is localStorage stored in the file system” article:

The DOMStore folder exists on my computer, and I can see it/get into it; contains cookies only.

2. After doing a bit more Google searching I came upon the following:

——————–
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie11-iewindows8_1/ie11-issue-with-mediumhigh-integrity-level-setting/53d207a8-914b-4527-bfd8-29c3f60bd473

Q: IE11 issue with medium/high integrity level setting on the “Appdata/LocalLow” folder
IE11 with “Enable protected mode” turned on and the integrity setting on the “Appdata/LocalLow” folder set to anything except low throws an error with LocalStorage and doesn’t load custom fonts. The error that gets thrown is “Access is Denied: The filename or extension name is too long”.

If you turn off protected mode, change the integrity setting on the LocalLow folder or add the webpage as a trusted site the issue is resolved. The reason that adding the webpage to your trusted sites seems to fix this issue is because trusted sites by default do not have “Enable protected mode” turned on.
——————–

Well, as an experiment I added https://support.microsoft.com to the trusted sites and, would you believe it, the two ‘test’ Microsoft support URLs that I’ve been working with both render normally.

Running the Web Storage Support Test hasn’t changed though; it still shows localStorage and globalStorage blank, as previously (and as expected, I imagine).

3. Comment after reading the SuperUser article “IE10’s localStorage is broken”:

Still weighing up whether to go ahead and delete all browsing history, except “Preserve Favotites website data”, which seems to be the recommendation.

Will report back later, to let you know where I’m at.

AusJohn

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Nice sleuthing :). I think there could be a permissions issue. I found link https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/066767a5-f9d5-45f4-95cf-dcd0ff030090/script5-access-is-denied-error-when-accessing-web-sites-using-localstorage?forum=ieitprocurrentver. I recommend doing the icacls command given there in a command prompt:

icacls %userprofile%\Appdata\LocalLow /t /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)L

 

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AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

If that doesn’t work, you could try disabling DOM storage in IE settings, then go back into settings again and enable DOM storage in settings. P.S. You’re welcome, and I don’t like giving up on a problem either :).

Tried the DOM disable/enable routine, as follows, but to no avail.

1. Disable DOM Storage, apply and save

2. Reboot computer

3. Enable DOM Storage, apply and save

4. Reboot computer

5. Run IE11; Microsoft support test pages don’t render correctly

And I’m relieved to hear that you don’t like giving up on a problem! 🙂

AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

Nice sleuthing :). I think there could be a permissions issue. I found link https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/066767a5-f9d5-45f4-95cf-dcd0ff030090/script5-access-is-denied-error-when-accessing-web-sites-using-localstorage?forum=ieitprocurrentver. I recommend doing the icacls command given there in a command prompt: icacls %userprofile%\Appdata\LocalLow /t /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)L

I’d seen that reference and was tempted to run the icacls command, but was hesitant to do so without a “thumbs up” from someone in the know.

Given your recommendation I decided to be brave and give it a go, but before doing so I checked the registry to see if I had the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\LowCache\Extensible Cache\DOMStore key mentioned in that reference pointing to the correct location.

Fortunately the registry value for that key was %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore, as stated in the article.

I closed all Internet Explorer windows as a precaution, then ran the command.

On completion the message displayed was:

“Successfully processed 1506 files; Failed processing 0 files”

Next I opened IE and checked that “Enable DOM storage” was still selected, which it was, and that I had removed https://support.microsoft.com from the Trusted Sites.

After that I ran the “Web Storage Support Test” and could have cried when I saw the result – no change on my two previous tests; that is, “localStorage: limited to 0 k characters”.

As a “just in case” I tried to load the 2 Microsoft support URLs that I’ve been trying all through this saga, and as expected they didn’t render correctly.

Then, as a final check to make sure that nothing had changed I did as users are frequently advised and rebooted the computer.

Unfortunately still no change – the 2 Microsoft support pages still didn’t render correctly.

One final act, before almost breaking down with disappointment, was to add https://support.microsoft.com to the Trusted Sites again and of course the two pages rendered perfectly.

Sorry for being so long winded, but I figure (at least hope) that more is better, so you have a fair idea of exactly what I did and didn’t do.

I’m almost too embarassed to ask this, but any other suggestions? 🙂

AusJohn

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There are some suggestions at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13102116/access-denied-for-localstorage-in-ie10.

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IE 10, fully Security Updated thru 12/17. Had exact same prob w/same pages as AusJohn. Read Born’s link; enable Dom Storage, Apply, Refresh page, all good then w/viewing those pgs. To view those pages before the new change at MS KB “help”/”support” pages, I always have to reset Security Options Internet from High to Med-High or Default. Plus, in Privacy Advanced I always run Cookie Over-ride, Accept 1st Party, No Accept 3rd Party, No check Session. When done viewing, reset Security to High, disable Dom, Safety Delete everything, Close IE10, Delete everything again, re-open, go wherever. Catalogue Security Only Updates (8.0 OS, IE10, Flash, Net Framework, etc.) same thing w/Med-High Security reset, except don’t need Dom and must re-enable MS Catalogue and Script Dict. add-ons. I’m assuming your WIN7 Internet Options are similar to my 8, so hope this helps you. Thank you kindly for the Born link. One more thing: my Internet Options Security “Internet” is always checked “Enable Protected Mode” even tho it’s not checked in Advanced. Whatever works, I guess! Hope this post does, too; my 1st… had to lower Security to do it, but really want to perhaps help you, AusJohn. Thanks to All here at Woody’s!

3 users thanked author for this post.

satrow, AusJohn, MrBrian

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As a test, I just browsed https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054518/windows-7-update-kb4054518 using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7. Both rendered fine.

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MrBrian wrote:

As a test, I just browsed https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054518/windows-7-update-kb4054518 using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7. Both rendered fine.

Sorry, but I think I’m missing something here.

What do you mean by “as a test”?  Test of what, exactly.

Your previous post said “There are some suggestions at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13102116/access-denied-for-localstorage-in-ie10.”, which I’ve looked at and think I’ve already done what was suggested there, but without any success in getting those two Microsoft support pages to render correctly (or to be precise, at all).

That is, I’ve run the icacls command, and enabled DOM storage.  One thing the article mentioned that I haven’t done is enable Enhanced Protected Mode.  Why – because it’s not showing as an option in my version of IE11 under Tools, Internet options, Advanced, Security – or anywhere else, as far as I can see.

The more I think about it the more I get the feeling that there’s something other than a problem with DOM storage.

Is Microsoft the only one who uses the DOMstore folder (C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore)?

If not, then I suspect that’s not the problem because I haven’t experienced trouble accessing/rendering any other web pages.

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It was a test of whether the Microsoft support pages render ok on my Internet Explorer 11, without doing any of the things the anonymous poster suggested.

If you haven’t customized Internet Explorer’s settings too much, you could try doing a reset of Internet Explorer’s settings to defaults.

I’m not sure of the answer to your DOMstore folder question offhand.

I believe that if we fix the IE localstorage issue, the Microsoft support pages will render properly.

I would be interested in the output of the following AccessChk command (it’s one line):

accesschk -w -e -s c:\Users\youruseraccount\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore

If there is any confidential info, you can either obfuscate it or send me a private message.

 

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satrow

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MrBrian wrote:

It was a test of whether the Microsoft support pages render ok on my Internet Explorer 11, without doing any of the things the anonymous poster suggested.

Thanks for the explanation.

MrBrian wrote:

I would be interested in the output of the following AccessChk command (it’s one line): accesschk -w -e -s c:\Users\youruseraccount\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore If there is any confidential info, you can either obfuscate it or send me a private message.

So would I, but I can’t; maybe a typo in the spelling of the command ‘accesschk’.

When I run it, after replacing “youruseraccount” with my actual user account name, I get the following message:

“‘accesschk’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.”

Let me know if  I’ve done something wrong, or there’s something else I should try.

BTW, I tried running the command from a normal command prompt and as Administrator.

AusJohn

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AusJohn wrote:

So would I, but I can’t; maybe a typo in the spelling of the command ‘accesschk’. 

Sorry about that; I thought ‘accesschk’ was an internal Windows/DOS command.

I’ve now downloaded and run accesschk; results are attached in the file “accesschk DOMStore Results.txt”.

AusJohn

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The permissions for

c:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore\XEY3MYEI\webmail.dcsi.net[1].xml

don’t have three lines that are common to all of the other entries. Did you cut off the last 3 lines by accident, or is that accurate?

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MrBrian wrote:

The permissions for c:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore\XEY3MYEI\webmail.dcsi.net[1].xml don’t have three lines that are common to all of the other entries. Did you cut off the last 3 lines by accident, or is that accurate?

Sorry, again!  Sloppy workmanship on my part. 🙂

Same as the others, by the look of it:

c:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore\XEY3MYEI\webmail.dcsi.net[1].xml
Low Mandatory Level [No-Write-Up]
RW NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
RW BUILTIN\Administrators
RW John-PC\John

AusJohn

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I didn’t see any problem with the permissions.

If you can’t find other things to try, here are 3 things:

1. Delete browsing history.

2. In Options Advanced tab, Restore advanced settings

3. In Options Advanced tab, Reset.

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MrBrian wrote:

I didn’t see any problem with the permissions. If you can’t find other things to try, here are 3 things: 1. Delete browsing history. 2. In Options Advanced tab, Restore advanced settings 3. In Options Advanced tab, Reset.

Thanks; will do if all else fails.

But first, if you don’t mind, any comments on the following.

I had a fiddle with F12 Developer Tools (didn’t really know what I was doing, but thought I’d try it) when trying to load the problem Microsoft security pages.

There was an error – SCRIPT5: Access is denied.

I’ve done a Google search, and found the article:

“SCRIPT5: Access is denied” error when accessing web sites using LocalStorage

at:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/066767a5-f9d5-45f4-95cf-dcd0ff030090/script5-access-is-denied-error-when-accessing-web-sites-using-localstorage?forum=ieitprocurrentver

A lot of the information appears to be the same as in one of the other articles we’ve referenced already, but about half way down the page there was a suggestion to run icacl, so I’ve done it with the commands and results below.

——————–

C:\Users\John>icacls “C:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer”

C:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)
John-PC\John:(OI)(CI)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
John-PC\John:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
Mandatory Label\Low Mandatory Level:(OI)(CI)(NW)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

——————–

C:\Users\John>icacls “C:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMstore”

C:\Users\John\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMstore NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)
John-PC\John:(OI)(CI)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
John-PC\John:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)
Mandatory Label\Low Mandatory Level:(OI)(CI)(NW)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

——————–

I’ve also rechecked the Registry for the DOMStore location (for the umpteenth time) as suggested in the article, and it looks fine to me.  If you’d like to check, this is it:

Key Name:          HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\LowCache\Extensible Cache\DOMStore
Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time:   09/06/2013 – 10:22 AM
Value 0
Name:            CachePath
Type:            REG_EXPAND_SZ
Data:            %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore

Value 1
Name:            CachePrefix
Type:            REG_SZ
Data:            DOMStore

Value 2
Name:            CacheLimit
Type:            REG_DWORD
Data:            0x3e8

Value 3
Name:            CacheOptions
Type:            REG_DWORD
Data:            0x8

Value 4
Name:            CacheRepair
Type:            REG_DWORD
Data:            0

AusJohn

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My registry items appear to be the same as yours.

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Thanks for the three suggestions you made in post 157977.

I was just about to try them, one by one, when I thought of something else to try first.

Tried starting Internet Explorer using “Run as Administrator” and, would you believe it, the Microsoft support test links both loaded successfully.

My question now is, does this suggest to you that there’s something else wrong that I should look at?

AusJohn

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You’re welcome :).

Is your John user account a standard account or admin account?

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MrBrian wrote:

Is your John user account a standard account or admin account?

I think it’s an admin account, but to be honest I’m not sure.

Is it important/relevant, and if so how can I find out which it is?

AusJohn

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See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2663817/how-to-determine-your-user-account-type-in-windows.

It’s relevant to your previous question.

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Control Panel\User Accounts

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AusJohn

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PKCano wrote:

Control Panel\User Accounts

Shows “John Administrator” so I presume that means it’s an admin account.

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Then perhaps this is a sign that it’s indeed a permissions issue. It would be helpful to have the output of this command (one line):

accesschk -w -e -s c:\Users\youruseraccount\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

This is a slightly different command than last time.

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MrBrian wrote:

accesschk -w -e -s c:UsersyouruseraccountAppDataLocalLowMicrosoftInternet Explorer

Attached is the output from running accesschk command.

Apologies also, because I forgot to mention something that I only noticed last night, but which may be relevant.

At the bottom of the Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab there is the following message:

“Some settings are managed by your system administrator.”

After I saw it I checked my wife’s computer and hers doesn’t show the message.

AusJohn

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Everything looks ok.

What version of IE are you using?

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MrBrian wrote:

What version of IE are you using?

Internet Explorer 11

Version: 11.0.9600.18860

Update Versions: 11.0.49 (KB4052978)

 

Reply | Quote

Your IE is up-to-date.

You could try using registry editor to search for domstorage and see if anything of interest shows up.

 

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MrBrian wrote:

You could try using registry editor to search for domstorage and see if anything of interest shows up.

Thanks, yet again.

I’ve done as you suggested and to me there’s “nothing of interest”, but that doesn’t mean anything because I don’t know what I should be looking for.

There are several questions, for which I don’t have answers, that keep coming into my mind, like:

1. Why is Microsoft the only domain affected (and not even all of it)?

2. Why can I retrieve the ‘problem’ pages if I include https://support.microsoft.com under Internet Options, Security, Trusted Sites, Sites?

3. Why, at the bottom of the Internet Options, Advanced tab does it show “Some settings are managed by your system Administrator”, highlighted in yellow?

4. Why, when starting Internet Explorer using “Run as Administrator, can I retrieve the ‘problem’ pages?

I don’t expect you to answer them, but they’re things that intrigue/bother me.

In post 157669 you said:

“If there is any confidential info, you can either obfuscate it or send me a private message.”

I don’t know how to do that, but if you would like to see the registry references to “domstorage” I can send them to you if you let me know how.

AusJohn

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AusJohn wrote:

3. Why, at the bottom of the Internet Options, Advanced tab does it show “Some settings are managed by your system Administrator”, highlighted in yellow?

The answer to this MAY be that some software on your computer (or you) changed Registry keys or made Group Policy changes (if you have Pro ver). I’ve seen that message in Windows Update when the pulldown menu options were changed in the Registry.

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AusJohn

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You’re welcome :).

1. Most websites apparently don’t need localstorage, but Microsoft’s support pages apparently recently began to require it.

2 and 4. Might be indicators that there are permissions issues preventing localstorage from working properly in normal circumstances.

3. See PKCano’s answer. If you want to get rid of this, I could give you some items to delete in the registry.

1 user thanked author for this post.

AusJohn

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PKCano wrote:

3. Why, at the bottom of the Internet Options, Advanced tab does it show “Some settings are managed by your system Administrator”, highlighted in yellow?

The answer to this MAY be that some software on your computer (or you) changed Registry keys or made Group Policy changes (if you have Pro ver). I’ve seen that message in Windows Update when the pulldown menu options were changed in the Registry.

I haven’t, knowingly at least, changed Registry keys or made Group Policy changes (I do have Pro version). Don’t have any idea whether software made changes; quite possible though, I imagine.

At one stage, quite some time ago, I saw that message in Windows Update but it’s not showing there now.

AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

3. See PKCano’s answer. If you want to get rid of this, I could give you some items to delete in the registry.

Yes please, that would be great.

Can’t do any harm, I presume, and make me feel better not seeing the message each time I look at that Advanced options tab. 🙂

AusJohn

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1. Close IE.

2. Delete these two registry keys if present:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

I have neither of those Internet Explorer keys on my Windows 7 computer.

3. Open IE and see if that message is still present.

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satrow, AusJohn

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MrBrian wrote:

1. Close IE. 2. Delete these two registry keys if present: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer I have neither of those Internet Explorer keys on my Windows 7 computer. 3. Open IE and see if that message is still present.

Will do, and report back later with the outcome.

AusJohn

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AusJohn wrote:

Will do, and report back later with the outcome. AusJohn

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

Neither of the two keys are present in my registry, so nothing to delete.

AusJohn

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Any items within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings ?

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MrBrian wrote:

Any items within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings ?

Yes, a mountain of them; about 24 ‘main’ ones at a quick count.  No mention of “policies” though, that I can see.

AusJohn

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On my computer, there is only one key there:

Cache

There are no values within Cache.

You could check your wife’s computer also.

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MrBrian wrote:

On my computer, there is only one key there:

Cache

There are no values within Cache.

You could check your wife’s computer also.

OK, will do.  But it’ll be a while before I get back to you with a response because I’ve got an important appointment.

AusJohn

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AusJohn wrote:

OK, will do. But it’ll be a while before I get back to you with a response because I’ve got an important appointment. AusJohn

Sorry but I’ve been too hasty again.

Don’t know what I was looking at, but when I checked HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings I only see Cache and there are no values in it.

My wife’s computer shows the same.

Really must be more careful.

AusJohn

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I don’t have any further suggestions at this time, other than the untried things mentioned already.

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MrBrian wrote:

I don’t have any further suggestions at this time, other than the untried things mentioned already.

Which I finally got round to.  Started on the 3 things suggested, but thankfully only needed to do the first one to fix the original problem; that is, to get Microsoft support pages to load/show correctly.

FINAL REPORT

In case it’s of any interest or use to anyone else, here’s what I did.

ACTION

– 1. Run Internet Explorer and select Delete browsing history

– with following selections (which were the defaults on my system)

× * Preserve favorites web site data *

——————–

× * Temporary internet files and website files *

——————–

× * Cookies and website data *

——————–

× * Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering and Do Not Track Data *

– 2. Reboot

– 3. Run Internet Explorer

a. Web Storage Support Test
b. test 2 problem Microsoft support pages

OUTCOMES

1. Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab – still shows “Some settings are managed by your system administrator.”

2. Web Storage Support Test

localStorage: limited to 4864 k characters
sessionStorage: limited to 4864 k characters
globalStorage: not supported

3. Microsoft support pages

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/894199/software-update-services-and-windows-server-update-services-changes-in

Loads/shows as it should

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054518

Loads/shows as it should

4. Registry Keys Deleted during the process

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\microsoft.com]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\microsoft.com\support]

5. Registry Keys Changed during the process

4 cookies deleted from
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage]

6. A few other minor registry changes, but nothing that I could imagine would relate to the problem I was having.

Thank you to all who contributed, apologies for careless mistakes I made, and if I offended anyone along the way.

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satrow, MrBrian, Kirsty

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