How To Force Creation of an Internet Code Download Log

If Internet Code Download fails to download a component, such as an ActiveX control, an error log is silently generated in the Temporary Internet Files folder. By default, this log is not generated if the download is successful.

When such a log is necessary for troubleshooting purposes, this log can be generated even for successful code downloads through the use of a special registry key.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


To force Internet Code Download to generate a log for every download instance, add the following registry entry: (Add "ForceCodeDownloadLog" as a string value to the Internet Settings key.)

With this setting turned on, when the download is successful you will get a log that indicates an error result of "0". For example: NOTE: No logs will be generated for controls that are already installed on the local computer. An Internet Code Download Log is only generated when a control is not already installed and must go through the internet download process.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites: