No History in History (IE6, IE6 SP1)

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I’ve been using IE 6 for a while, but recently I noticed that when I view the History pane in IE, there’s no history. Not even the sites I’ve been to during the current session. SP1 does not seem to fix the problem. I have IE set to delete Temporary Internet Files when I close the browser, but that shouldn’t effect the History. Has anyone seen or heard of this problem? Any ideas what might cause it? Thanks.

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Just a silly question??

Is the option for “Days to keep pages in History” set correctly

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Yes, it’s set to 20 days (the default). Just for grins, I’ll try changing it and clearing the History to see if that kicks it back to life. Hmm. Nothing, although if I change the view to By Most Visited, a few sites show up, but not all (and not the most visited either).

Thanks.

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It might be a registry error where the registry is pointing to the wrong History folder.

What do you see if you try to open the History folder through Windows Explorer?

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The History folder is empty, which is strange because I do see history when I view by most visited sites. I found a Registry setting that looks like a possible culprit: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMainSave_Session_History_On_Exit, but I have no idea what this one is related to. I couldn’t find anything about in MSKB.

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The History folder should not appear empty…

I don’t think Save_History_On_Exit should empty the folder — but try to modify the value just to make sure.

Also, if you can, open the History folder in DOS and tell me what you see.

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Well, I’m not alone – a search on Google Groups found several others with exactly this problem. And you’re on track because the solution has generally been to either change the registry setting for the History folder to a new location, or to delete History from a DOS prompt and reboot. The folder is rebuilt from scratch when it’s not there.

From DOS, I can see the History.IE5 folder under History, and there’s a few folders in there similar to what’s on my other machines (folder names like MSHist012002080220020803). And the index.dat file is there.

So my next question is: assuming my History folder is corrupt, what’s the safest way to get rid of it and start over?

Thanks! And congratulations on your promotion from 4-star to 5-star lounger!

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Thank you. You may want to just “Rename” the History folder in DOS — instead of completely deleting it. That way, if you need to (unlikely), you can reverse your decision.

I have had to go through the registry and change EVERY pointer for the History folder to be the correct one — and that has worked. BUT… if Windows will do it for you after you delete the History folder — then let it!!

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I’ve done some looking but could not find anything. Not much info related to History.

Try this site http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…fh;EN-US;KBINFO%5B/url%5D
PS: If you are talking about media files the answer is at this link otherwise; happy hunting.

Good Luck

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