Microsoft KB Archive/216657

= PRB: Error Messages When Opening Word Documents or Excel Workbooks with Internet Explorer =

Article ID: 216657

Article Last Modified on 12/12/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 128-Bit Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q216657



SYMPTOMS
When opening a Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word document with Internet Explorer, you might receive an error message that the files Temporary.xls, Internet.xls, Temporary.doc, or Internet.doc could not be opened.



CAUSE
When Internet Explorer downloads a file, it places it in a temporary directory, which is usually named "Temporary Internet Files." When you open the file, Internet Explorer launches the application associated with the file's extension, and passes that application the full path and filename of the file. For example, for an .xls file, Internet Explorer might launch Excel.exe as follows:

Excel.exe C:\WINNT\PROFILES\user\Temporary Internet Files\85IFCTQN\page.x

The problem occurs with path and filenames that contain spaces. The target application interprets these as multiple parameters. For the example above, Excel tries to open three files, "C:\WINNT\PROFILES\user\Temporary.xls," "Internet.xls," and "Files\85IFCTQN\page.xls"



RESOLUTION
With some versions of Internet Explorer, you can work around this problem by renaming your "Temporary Internet Files" directory so that it does not contain spaces. If you are unable to rename this directory, you will need to save the file to disk and open from Microsoft Excel instead.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in Internet Explorer 4.01. Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available.

Additional query words: mime type asp http vnd

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix kbprb KB216657

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