[thelist] Free tip - IE download problems

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Fri Feb 2 12:28:45 CST 2001


thanks to michele for one of the links...

have a client who couldn't complete a file download while using IE4 
on wintel... no other browser experienced this problem... so, after 
some digging (and a post to the list), i found this handy info... 
ultimately it's a bug in IE4 and the way it handles some HTTP 
headers...

<tip type="browsers">
===========================

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q196/5/05.ASP

The information in this article applies to:
 * Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 
1, 5 for Windows 95 
 * Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows 98
 * Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to download a Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlm, .xlc, 
.xlt), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt), Microsoft Word (.doc, .dot), or 
Adobe (.pdf) file from the Internet, you may receive the following 
error message: 

Internet Explorer could not download <filename> from <Web site>. 
The downloaded file is not available. This could be due to your 
Security or Language Settings or because the server was unable to 
retrieve the requested file. 
NOTE: Other extensions may be affected as well. 

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the file is located on a computer running 
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 with either of the 
following configurations: 

On the HTTP Header tab in Default Web Site properties, the 
Enable Content Expiration option is set to expire immediately. 

On the HTTP Header tab in Default Web Site properties, the 
Enable Content Expiration option is set to expire on a past date.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, contact the Web site administrator and 
request that the Enable Content Expiration option be changed to 
expire on or after a future date. 

===========================

http://bugs.apache.org/index.cgi/full/4118

When Internet Explorer receives a "Vary: Host" header, or a "Vary: 
*" header, the system will improperly report "file not found".  The 
exact error message is: "Internet Explorer cannot download from 
the Internet site viewer.zip from palm.dahm.com.  The downloaded 
file is not available.  This could be due to your Security or 
Language settings or because the server was unable to retrieve the 
requested file."

[...]

Mod_rewrite (and others) add the "vary" header, so this could be an 
important client issue.

[...]

Server workaround:
Add the following option to the apache config file:

	Header unset Vary:

This may have adverse consequences for other proxy servers.

[...]

Another workaround:
A workaround is to add the following to your server's configuration 
files: 

	BrowserMatch "MSIE 4\.0" force-no-vary

(This workaround is only available with releases after 1.3.6 of the 
Apache Web server.)

===========================
</tip>




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