Problems After Enabling Active Desktop

• Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01 for Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you enable Active Desktop, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• You receive the following error message when you attempt to enable Active Desktop:

  Internet Explorer cannot find the Active Desktop HTML file. This file is needed for your Active Desktop. Click OK to turn off Active Desktop.




• When you click the As Web Page command to select it on the View menu in Windows Explorer or My Computer, nothing happens.



• When you attempt to view a Web page, Internet Explorer prompts you to open or save the file to a disk instead of displaying the Web page.



• When you start Internet Explorer, you may see a File Download dialog box that states:

  Opening:
  / from homepage.html

  No progress is made, and when you click Cancel, the dialog box and Internet Explorer both close.
  
  You may also notice when you view the Internet Explorer properties by double-clicking Internet in Control Panel that there is no General or Content tab.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the Mshtml.dll file is missing or damaged, or if the registry entries for the Mshtml.dll file are missing or damaged.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.



2. In the Named box, type mshtml.dll, and then click Find Now.



3. If the Mshtml.dll file is found, right-click it, click Rename, and then type a new name for the Mshtml.dll file (such as Mshtml.xxx).
   
   If the Mshtml.dll file is not found, skip to step 4.
   
   For more information about how to rename a file, click Start, click Help, click the Index tab, type renaming, and then double-click the "Renaming Files" topic.



4. Quit the Find tool.



5. Extract a new copy of the Mshtml.dll file from your original Internet Explorer CD-ROM, the folder to which you downloaded the Internet Explorer Setup files, or your original Windows 98 disks or CD-ROM to the Windows\System folder.
   
   NOTE: If you do not have an Internet Explorer CD-ROM or a folder on your hard disk that contains the Internet Explorer Setup files, contact Microsoft Product Support Services.
   
   NOTE: If you previously applied an update to the Mshtml.dll file provided by Microsoft, reinstall the updated version of the Mshtml.dll file instead of the version included with Internet Explorer or Windows 98.
   
   In Internet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 for Windows 95, follow these steps to extract the Mshtml.dll file:
   
   
   1. At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

      extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4_s2.cab ie4_2.cab

      where <path1> is the path to the folder to which you want to extract the Ie4_2.cab cabinet file, and <path2> is the path to the folder in which the Internet Explorer Setup files are located.
      
      NOTE: If you downloaded Internet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 from the Internet, <path2> is location of the Internet Explorer Setup files on your hard disk. If you installed Internet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 from a CD-ROM, <path2> is the path to the Internet Explorer Setup files on your Internet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 CD-ROM.
   
   
   
   2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER

      extract /l <path1> <path2>\ie4_2.cab mshtml.dll

      where <path1> is the location of the Windows\System folder, and <path2> is the path to the folder to which you extracted the Ie4_2.cab file.
   
   
   
   
   
   In Windows 98, use the System File Checker tool to extract the Mshtml.dll file. For information about how to extract files using the System File Checker tool, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   

   ARTICLE-ID: Q129605
   TITLE : How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files

1. Click Start, and then click Run.



2. In the Open box, type "regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll" (without quotation marks), click OK, and then click OK again.



3. Restart your computer.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbenv kberrmsg msiew95 win98 win98se 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,4.01
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: July 27, 1999