Troubleshooting Web Folders

When you work with Web folders, one of the following issues may occur:

• If you attempt to create or open a Web folder in Web Folders on a computer running Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), or if you attempt to create or open a Web folder in My Network Places on Microsoft Windows 2000, you receive the following error message:
  The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another.
• If attempt to open an existing Web location by double-clicking the Web folder name in the Open dialog box of a Microsoft Office 2000 program, you receive one of the following error messages:
  The current operation cannot be completed because an unexpected error has occurred.
  -or-
  The folder "http://website" isn't accessible. The folder may be located on an unavailable volume or protected with a password.

NOTE: Although these error messages can indicate a problem with Web folders, they can also indicate a problem with Web server configuration, network connectivity, server extensions, and permissions.

The following issues may also occur:

• No Web folders are visible in the Open File dialog box of an Office 2000 program.
• When you attempt to create a new Web folder, the Web Folder Wizard finishes without errors but the Web folder is not created.

There may be a problem with Web Folders on the client that prevents connecting to any Web server, including a Web server on the local machine.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
NOTE: The steps below should be completed in order, and you need to test Web Folders functionality after each step. Proceed to the next step only if the problem is not resolved.

1. Perform the following steps on Office 2000 or any stand-alone version of an Office 2000 product.
   
   NOTE: Do not perform this step if you are using Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft FrontPage 2002. The folders that are renamed may not be replaced by running Detect and Repair. These folders can only be restored with Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft FrontPage 2000. If you receive an "access denied" error when you attempt to rename any of the following folders, close any running programs or restart the system in safe mode.
   1. Start Windows Explorer, and then rename the following folders:
      • "Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Ole db"
      • "Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Folders"
      • "Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions"
   2. Reinstall or run Detect and Repair for Office 2000 or the stand-alone product.
2. Manually register the OLEDB files that are used with Web folders. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Open a command prompt.
   2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
      cd "Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Ole DB"
      where Drive is the letter of the drive.
   3. Type the following command, and then press the ENTER key:
      RegSvr32 oledb32.dll
   4. Click OK when the RegSvr32 DLLRegisterServer succeeded message appears.
   5. Type the following command, and then press the ENTER key:
      RegSvr32 msdaurl.dll
   6. Click OK when the RegSvr32 DLLRegisterServer succeeded message appears.
   7. Type the following command and press the ENTER key:
      RegSvr32 msdaipp.dll
   8. Click OK when the RegSvr32 DLLRegisterServer succeeded message appears.
   9. Close the command prompt.
3. Start Registry Editor. Export the following registry key, and then delete it:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{BDEADF00-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}
   NOTE: This key is also used to remove the Web Folders icon from the desktop.
   
   For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   195851 How to Install and Use Web Folders in Internet Explorer 5
   For additional information about how to back up the registry in Windows 98, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   256419 How to Back Up the Registry in Windows 98
   After the key has been deleted, run Detect and Repair on Office 2000 or one of the stand-alone Office products installed.
4. Update or reinstall the latest version of the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC).
   
   Before you update or reinstall MDAC, run the Component Checker from the following Microsoft Web site to determine your current version of MDAC:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937695.aspx
   After you determine which version of MDAC you have, install each version in increments until you have installed the latest version. For example, if you have MDAC 2.1, you will need to install MDAC 2.5 before you install MDAC 2.6.
   
   To download MDAC, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937730.aspx
5. Verify that the MSDAIPP folder exists and that it is not set to Read-Only.
   • On Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), the MSDAIPP folder is located at:
     Drive:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\MSDAIPP
   • On Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 the MSDAIPP folder is located at:
     %WINDIR%\Profiles\username\Application Data\Microsoft\MSDAIPP
   • On Microsoft Windows 2000 the MSDAIPP folder is located at:
     %HOMEDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\MSDAIPP
   If the MSDAIPP folder is missing or Read-only, or if the %WINDIR%\Nethood folder is set to Read-only, you may receive the following error message:
   The Folder <HTTP Address> is no longer available.
   
   If the MSDAIPP Folder does not exist, create the folder at the appropriate location depending on the operating system that is in use. If the folder is set to Read-only, remove the Read-only attribute from that folder.
   
   For additional information, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
   269681 Unable to Add a Web Folder to the My Network Places Folder
6. On Windows 2000 and Windows XP, use the Web Folders Repair utility (webfldrs.msi):
   1. Start Windows Explorer.
   2. On the main drive, navigate to WINNT\System32.
   3. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
   4. In the Folders Options dialog box, click the View tab.
   5. Click to select the Show Hidden Files check box, and then click OK.
   6. Locate the webfldrs.msi file, and then double-click it.
   7. Click Reinstall.
   8. Restart the computer after installation has completed
7. Use the wecctlflags key in the registry to "disconnect" Microsoft Internet Explorer and force Microsoft Office products to use their internal networking stack. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:
   250376 FP2000: FrontPage Repeatedly Prompts for User Name and Password When You Open a Web
   219081 FP2000: Listing Web Information in FrontPage or Web Folders Is Slower Against Older Server Extensions
8. If icons on the desktop do not have an arrow indicating that they are shortcuts, follow the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
   252617 Unable to Create a New Web Folder
9. If you are running Internet Explorer version 4.x or earlier, upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.x or later. In the installation options, choose a Custom Installation and click to select Web Folders. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
   195851 How to Install and Use Web Folders in Internet Explorer 5
10. If you are already using Internet Explorer 5.x on an operating system where Internet Explorer 5.x is not part of the operating system (such as Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0), run Add/Remove for Internet Explorer 5.x and select Web Folders in the installation options. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
    195851 How to Install and Use Web Folders in Internet Explorer 5
11. If Active Desktop is not installed, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
    235402 OFF2000: Some Office 2000 Features Are Lost When Windows Desktop Update Is Not Installed
12. Install a Web Server and the Server Extensions on your local computer. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:
    295596 Error Message When You Install a Web Component That Uses Microsoft FrontPage Server Extension
    205696 FPSE: How to Install FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions for Internet Information Server
13. Disable any proxy settings in Internet Explorer. If a proxy is being used and you cannot open a page in a Web folder by clicking the Edit button in Internet Explorer, add the address to the list of addresses not to use with a proxy, and then test opening the Web by clicking the Edit button in Internet Explorer. For more information about configuring Proxy Server settings in Internet Explorer, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
    135982 How to Configure Internet Explorer to Use a Proxy Server
14. Use an IP address to open the Web server, or use a Domain/NetBIOS name to access the Web server. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
    240951 FP2000: How to Open a Web Using HTTP
15. Upgrade to Office 2000 SR1a and the Office Server Extensions SR1.1. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
    261933 What Is the SR-1a Update?

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Web Folders are a new Web authoring component included with Internet Explorer 5 and Office 2000. With Web Folders, you can manage files by using the familiar Windows Explorer or My Computer interface on Web servers that support the WWW Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) or Web Extender Client (WEC) protocols. These protocols are defined as follows:

• WebDAV is an extension to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that extends the base set of HTTP methods to include basic file functions such as copying and moving resources, creating folders or resource collections, locking and unlocking resources, and setting and retrieving resource properties.
• WEC is a Microsoft Office 2000 protocol that is used for Web publishing, and is usually implemented through the use of Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions.

Web Folders is installed as a namespace (or shell) extension to the operating system with an icon in My Computer (root object in Windows Explorer) or in My Network Places in Windows 2000. This root object is a container for shortcuts to your Web publishing sites and it enumerates HTTP URLs as files and folders. You can use Windows Explorer to view, move, copy, rename, delete, create new, and sort files, a- well as group files by properties and view property sheet information for files in a Web Folder, depending on your authoring and security permissions on the Web server. For additional information about how to determine which folder Windows is installed in, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For additional information about Web Folders errors, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: For information about determining if there is an issue using FrontPage 2000 and Web Folders, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: