Release Notes for Internet Explorer 7

These Release Notes give you information about installing Internet Explorer® 7 and contain information about known issues and possible workarounds for those issues.

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Installation Notes

Japanese Installation Prerequisite

You must install the Rights Management Add-on from the RMA Download Page before you install Internet Explorer 7. The add-on cannot be installed after Internet Explorer 7.

Installation Errors

If you receive notification that the installation failed, you should restart your computer to ensure that any changes made during Setup are undone.

To find information about installation problems, refer to the following log files:
%windir%\ie7_main.log
%windir%\ie7.log
%windir%\ie7Uninst.log

Note: %windir% is the location of your Windows directory, which can usually be found at C:\Windows.

If you receive the error "Setup was unable to open the log file for writing: C:\WINDOWS\ie7_main.log", log in with a user account that has administrator privileges and then try to install Internet Explorer 7 again.

Updating or Reinstalling Internet Explorer 7

If a previous version of Internet Explorer 7 is already installed, installing the latest version of Internet Explorer 7 will automatically remove the previous version. After the previous version is removed, Setup will automatically restart your computer and then begin installing the new version.

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 RC1

To uninstall Internet Explorer 7 and restore Internet Explorer 6 when using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Add or Remove Programs.
Scroll down to Windows Internet Explorer 7, click it, and then click Change/Remove.

If you cannot find Internet Explorer 7 in Add or Remove Programs, click Start, click Run, type %windir%\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe, and then press ENTER.

Note: %windir% is the location of your Windows directory, which can usually be found at C:\Windows. To do this, you need to have "view hidden folders" enabled.

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3, Beta 2, Beta 2 Preview, or Beta 1

To uninstall Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3, Beta 2, Beta 2 Preview, or Beta 1 and restore Internet Explorer 6 when using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Add or Remove Programs.
Scroll down to "Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3", "Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2", or "Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview", click it, and then click Change/Remove.
If you cannot find any version of Internet Explorer 7 in the previous step, select the Show Updates check box at the top of the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, scroll down to Windows XP - Software Updates, select "Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview" or "Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1", and then click Change/Remove.

If you cannot find an Internet Explorer 7 entry using Add or Remove Programs, try running these commands. Each is for a different release of Internet Explorer 7, so only one will succeed. To run any of these commands, you need to have the View hidden folders option enabled. In the commands below, %windir% is the location of your Windows directory, which can usually be found at C:\Windows. To run these commands, click Start, click Run, and then type one of the following:

%windir%\ie7beta3\spuninst\spuninst.exe.
%windir%\$NtUninstallie7beta1$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.
%windir%\$NtUninstallie7bet2p$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.
%windir%\$NtUninstallie7b2pmx$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.
%windir%\$NtUninstallie7beta2$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.

If the uninstall process causes the computer to stop responding while removing Internet Explorer 7, restart the computer, delete any custom sound schemes created after installing the Internet Explorer 7 Beta, and then try to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 again.

Internet Explorer 7 Fails to Uninstall from Specified User Account

If you see an error message saying that you cannot uninstall Internet Explorer 7 from this user account, you can bypass the check by following these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer.
Right-click the Internet Explorer key, click New, and then click DWORD value.
Type InstalledByUser as the name, and then press ENTER to finish creating the new registry value.
Try to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 again.

Late-Breaking Notes and Issues

The following open issues in Internet Explorer 7 might be fixed in updates of Internet Explorer 7. The information applies to all Microsoft platforms, unless specified that the content is unique to Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2.

Application Compatibility Toolkit Beta 5.0 Available--The Application Compatibility Toolkit Version 5.0 Beta program is available for download through the Microsoft Connect Program. This toolkit, which runs on Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows Vista, replaces the Temporary Application Compatibility Toolkit which supported previous Beta versions of Internet Explorer 7. The Temporary Application Toolkit is no longer available.

Citrix©--The CITRIX ICA Client ActiveX Control does not work when run in Internet Explorer 7 Protected Mode on Microsoft Windows Vista. The user will not be able to see the remote desktop in a webpage that is hosting the control. To work around the issue, the user can right-click the Internet Explorer icon and select Run as administrator. This allows the ActiveX control to run.

Hal Screen Reader and Supernova Reader Magnifier by Dolphin--These screen readers stop responding when users click commands from Internet Explorer’s file menu. These two programs are shipped with an older version of psapi.dll that causes the program to stop responding in Internet Explorer 7.

To work around this issue, follow these steps:

Go to the installation location for Dolphin Hal Screen Reader or Supernova Reader Magnifier.
Find PSAPI.DLL in the installation location for Dolphin Hal Screen Reader or Supernova Reader Magnifier and rename it to something else, such as PSAPIOLD.DLL. Do not rename the PSAPI.DLL file in your \\Windows\System32 directory.
Restart the computer.

The program will find the new PSAPI.DLL in the \Windows\System32 directory and function normally. Users might wish to contact the software vendor website to check for the latest updates.

Upgrading Internet Explorer 7 from a previous build (not uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 first) can leave the computer in a confusing state for users who require Assistive Technology programs--Assistive technology software that runs on Windows, such as screen reading software, might not be able to read the screens that appear while installation is being completed (after your computer restarts) because those screens are displayed before the assistive technology starts. When the installation is complete, your computer will restart again.

Starting Internet Explorer without incompatible browser extensions or malware--If you have incompatible browser extension or add-ons installed, or have symptoms of spyware or malware, use Reset Internet Explorer Settings (RIES) to reset Internet Explorer’s settings. See Reset Internet Explorer Settings on the Internet Explorer blog for more details.

Resetting Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) Defaults on Server Machine--If you reset Internet Explorer settings (as discussed previously) when ESC is turned on, Internet Explorer will reset to the ESC defaults. If ESC is turned off, it will reset to the standard defaults. Resetting Internet Explorer does not cause the state of ESC to be changed.

Accessing websites that only work with Internet Explorer 6-- Some websites host pages that are hard coded to read the User Agent string, and only accept the value for Internet Explorer 6. You can temporarily appear to the website that you are using Internet Explorer 6 by using the User Agent Utility. The tool will create an instance of Internet Explorer 7 that emulates Internet Explorer 6. Other instances of Internet Explorer 7 will not be affected.

RSS feed detection button--Internet Explorer 7 uses a link in the HTML source code of a webpage to enable the feed discovery button located on the Command Bar. If a page does not have that link element, Internet Explorer 7 does not detect the feed. See the Internet Explorer Blog entry for details.

SharePoint--Windows® SharePoint® Services (WSS) cannot import spreadsheets when Internet Explorer 7 is running.

Accessing Microsoft Office files online fails to install (Vista only)--In previous versions of Windows, when you tried to open a Microsoft Office file online (such as a Word document), without having the program in office installed, it would be automatically installed. In Windows Vista, when running Internet Explorer 7 in Protected Mode Internet Explorer, the Microsoft Office installer is unable to start. Users can work around this by ensuring that the Office application, such as Excel or Word, is already installed prior to accessing Office files online with Internet Explorer, or you can use one of the following workaround methods:

Temporarily disabling Protected Mode Internet Explorer by following these steps:

From Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Security tab, and then clear the Enable Protected Mode (requires restarting Internet Explorer) checkbox. We recommend re-enabling Protected Mode once the Office file has been successfully accessed.

Or run Internet Explorer as an Administrator by following these steps:

In Windows, click the Start button.
Click All Programs.
Locate and right click Internet Explorer in your program listing.
From the menu, select Run as administrator.
Click Allow in the User Account Control dialog box.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004--If Flight Simulator 2004 stops responding after you have installed Internet Explorer 7, find the oleacc.dll file in the Flight Simulator folder and rename it to oleacc.old. Then restart Flight Simulator.

SAP GUI--You cannot use the SAP GUI with Internet Explorer 7. A fix for the issue will be available in patch level 20 of the SAP GUI for Windows 6.40 and patch level 64 for Windows 6.20.

GE Pathspeed ActiveX Control--An ActiveX control that is used on old versions of Pathspeed™ from General Electric (GE) prevents users from accessing ActiveX controls and generates the following message: "Security certificate has expired." This problem is fixed on newer versions of the Pathspeed product.

Microsoft Office Handwriting Recognition Service--If you have installed the optional Handwriting Recognition Service you might encounter the following issues in Internet Explorer 7 (on XPSP2 only). Please note that this service is not installed by default when Microsoft Office is installed. This release note does not pertain to the Tablet PC’s handwriting-input feature.

When switching tabs in Internet Explorer 7, the menus might become activated or quickly expand and collapse (this is a similar experience to when a user presses the ALT key repeatedly).
When you click on a tab, the menus become activated and the tab itself is not selected.

To work around this problem, disable the On-Screen Keyboard component of the Handwriting Recognition Service:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Regional and Language Options.
Click the Languages tab.
Click the Details button.
Under Handwriting Recognition select On-Screen Standard Keyboard.
Click Remove.
Under Handwriting Recognition select On-Screen Symbol Keyboard.
Click Remove.
Click OK twice to save and exit changes.
Restart Internet Explorer 7.

Freedom Scientific--When using Freedom Scientific JAWS® for Windows screen reader with Internet Explorer 7, you might encounter the following issues:

JAWS version 7.0 and earlier does not display the contents of individual frames when a page contains a frame set. To work around this problem, copy psapi.dll from the \WINDOWS\system32 directory to the directory where JAWS is installed. JAWS 7.1 does not have this problem.
Certain hotkeys for JAWS 7.0 and earlier might not work as expected in Internet Explorer 7. For example, CTRL+F will open the Internet Explorer Find dialog box and not the JAWS Find dialog box. These issues have been corrected in JAWS 7.1.
JAWS 7.0 and earlier might not correctly read selection controls (such as state, country or product selection drop-down lists) on webpages. JAWS 7.1 has corrected the majority of situations where this happens. For more details please contact Freedom Scientific.

Freedom Scientific has indicated that JAWS 8.0 will fully support Internet Explorer 7. Please contact Freedom Scientific for the most current information.

Internet Explorer 7 and Outlook Web Access (OWA)--When a user logs out of an Outlook Web Access server, any other sites open in other tabs in the same Internet Explorer window might be logged out if those sites use cookies to establish logon sessions.

Toolbars that are incompatible with Internet Explorer 7

We highly encourage you to install/update to the latest versions of the toolbars that you have installed. We have been actively encouraging application owners to provide updates to their toolbars to ensure compatibility and many have already released updates that work great with Internet Explorer 7.

If you are having problems with Internet Explorer 7 hanging, crashing, silently closing or other bizarre behavior, an incompatible toolbar or other add-on maybe involved. The fastest way to determine if an add-on is causing the problem is to run Internet Explorer 7 with no add-ons. You can do this by going to Start, clicking All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools and click Internet Explorer (No add-ons). This disables all add-ons from loading in that instance of Internet Explorer. If the problem goes away, you can manually disable specific add-ons to find the specific one causing the problem. Below are instructions on how to manually disable a specific toolbar and a list of known incompatible toolbars that can cause serious issues with Internet Explorer 7.

To disable a toolbar open Internet Explorer 7, follow these steps:

In Windows, click the Start button.
Click All Programs.
Click Accessories.
Click System Tools and then click Internet Explorer (No add-ons).

Once you determine the toolbar causing the issue, you should uninstall the toolbar through Add or Remove Programs in Windows Control Panel and then check the toolbar’s website for an updated version.

The following toolbars have known issues or have updates available.

Google Desktop--Earlier versions of Google Desktop could cause Internet Explorer 7 to stop responding when opening new tabs. You need to install the latest version of the Google desktop.

MSN 1.02 Toolbar--The MSN toolbar version 1.02 causes Internet Explorer 7 to stop responding. You can download the latest version of the MSN Toolbar here.

Microsoft Developer Toolbar and Internet Explorer 7--The latest version of the Microsoft Developer Toolbar runs correctly with Internet Explorer 7. You can download it from the Internet Explorer Download Page. Previous versions of the Developer Toolbar do not display correctly on systems running Internet Explorer 7 and sometimes cause Internet Explorer to hang.

VeriSign i-Nav™ Plug-in--Users of the VeriSign i-Nav IDN Resolver Plug-in might notice that they are unable to navigate to Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in Internet Explorer 7. This is caused by Internet Explorer 7 enhanced support for IDNs. To navigate to IDNs in Internet Explorer 7, follow these steps:

Open Internet Explorer, and then click the Tools button.
Click Manage Add Ons, and then click Enable or Disable Add Ons.
Find and click the listing for i-Nav browser extensions.
Under Settings, click Disable.

RoboForm Toolbar version 6.3.96--Opening multiple tabs in Internet Explorer 7 with the RoboForm Toolbar might cause the browser to stop responding when it is used with Internet Explorer 7.

Cooxie Toolbar version 1.1.05--The Cooxie Toolbar might cause Internet Explorer 7 to stop responding.

Diodia Toolbar version 2.4.01--Internet Explorer 7 might stop responding when running this toolbar.

Ask Toolbar by AskJeeves version 4.0.1.1--Internet Explorer 7 might stop responding when running this toolbar.

Yellow Pages Toolbar version 4.0--This toolbar does not work correctly with Internet Explorer 7 installed.

Mojicon Dispenser--This toolbar can cause Internet Explorer 7 to stop responding.

Logos Word Toolbar--Internet Explorer 7 can stop responding if there are multiple tabs open with this toolbar installed.

Adelphia Toolbar version 1.2--Opening multiple tabs with this toolbar can cause Internet Explorer 7 to stop responding.

Website Connectivity Issues

SSL Changes--When navigating to an HTTPS site in Windows Vista, you might encounter a connection failure error page if the server does not correctly support the TLS standard. A description of the changes in SSL can be found in the Internet Explorer blog. To work around this problem, follow these steps:

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Advanced tab, and scroll down to the Security section.
Find and clear the Use TLS v1.0 check box.
Click OK.

Proxy Connectivity--If you are on a network that uses a proxy server, and you notice slowness or a problem connecting to websites after upgrading to Internet Explorer 7, it might be due to web proxy auto-detection problems. To fix these problems, follow these steps:

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Connections tab.
Under Local Area Networks (LAN) settings, click the LAN Settings button.
Clear the Automatically detect settings check box.
Click the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box.
Type the address and port of your proxy server.
Click OK twice.

You will now be able to navigate to Internet sites.

Internet Connection Settings--If you notice a problem connecting to websites, it might be because the upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 changed your Internet connection settings from what they were set at in Internet Explorer 6. To work around the problem, follow these steps:

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Connections tab.
Click the first entry in the Dialup and Virtual Private Networks list, and then click Settings.
Select the Automatically detect settings check box, and then click OK.
Repeat the previous two steps for each entry in the Dialup and Virtual Private Networks list.
Click the Lan Settings button in the Connections tab, and repeat steps 4-6. Click OK on the Connections tab.
Close Internet Explorer, and then restart it.

Functionality Removed and Changed

Functionality Removed and Changed in Internet Explorer 7

Offline Favorites--Offline Favorites and Scheduled Offline Favorites have been removed from Internet Explorer 7. Internet Explorer supports RSS feeds, which provide scheduled updates to web content and offline reading of this content. For more information about RSS feeds, read the RSS Blog.

Scriptlets--Internet Explorer 7 disables Dynamic HTML (DHTML) scriptlets by default. (Scriptlets were phased out in Internet Explorer 5). They can be re-enabled by system administrators by changing the advanced settings in the Internet Control Panel. To change the setting, open Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options. In Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and then scroll down to find Allow Scriptlets. If you are a developer and your programs rely on scriptlets, we recommend that you use more efficient DHTML behaviors. Disabling scriptlets by default is done to deemphasize unsupported technology in Internet Explorer.

ActiveX controls--The new Internet Explorer 7 ActiveX Opt-In feature disables ActiveX controls on a user's machine. When the user visits a webpage that is trying to use a disabled ActiveX control, they see an Information bar to enable the control. Controls which were used in Internet Explorer 6 before upgrading to Internet Explorer 7, along with some pre-approved controls, are not disabled.

Channel Definition Format (CDF)--All CDF support was removed from Internet Explorer 7 and replaced with the RSS feed reading experience. Feeds that the user is subscribed to are available to other applications through the RSS Platform. For details, read the RSS Platform.

DirectAnimation--All DLLs to support the Internet Explorer DirectAnimation component were removed in Internet Explorer 7.

XBM-- XBM, an imaging format designed for X-based systems, is no longer supported.

SSL--Support for weak SSL ciphers was removed from Windows Vista and support for SSLv2 was disabled for Internet Explorer 7 on all platforms.

Windowed Select--The Windowed Select Element was replaced by Windowless Select in Internet Explorer 7. This results in some cosmetic changes.

BASE Element--Internet Explorer 7 strictly enforces the BASE element rule, as documented in the HTML 4.01 standard. We no longer allow BASE tags outside of the HEAD of the document. The standard specifies that the base element must appear within the head of the document, before any elements that refer to an external source.

window.opener and window.close--Internet Explorer 7 no longer allows the window.opener trick to bypass the window.close prompt. Browser windows cannot close themselves unless the windows were created in script. This security enhancement no longer allows browsing to a random site when the main browser window closes unexpectedly.

Changes that affect modal or modeless dialogs created from script--Modal or modeless dialogs created from script in Internet Explorer 7 might seem to be slightly bigger than their Internet Explorer 6 counterparts. This is caused by a change to the behavior of the dialogWidth and dialogHeight properties, which now set and retrieve dimensions of the content area of a dialog (from Internet Explorer 7 and later). It will no longer be necessary to calculate the area lost by elements of a dialog’s frame. Information on these changes will be posted on the Internet Explorer Blog.

Generic Spoofing Risk Reduction in Internet Explorer 7--The window.prompt script method is blocked and the gold Information bar is displayed by default in Internet Zone for Internet Explorer 7. The helps prevent websites from spoofing things such as the logon screens of other websites. This is a new security enhancement for Internet Explorer 7.

WWW-Auth--Internet Explorer 7 changes the precedence rules for WWW-Auth. Previous releases of Internet Explorer used the first header encountered. Internet Explorer 7 uses the first header except when the header is Basic. Internet Explorer 7 uses Basic authentication if no other authentication mechanism is present.

HTTPOnly Cookies--HTTPOnly cookies can no longer be overwritten from scripts.

_SEARCH--The _SEARCH sidebar is disabled by default in Internet Explorer 7. It is now a setting and can be turned by checking Enable websites to use the search pane in the Advanced tab of the Internet control panel.

View Source--The view-source protocol no longer works in Internet Explorer 7.

Gopher Protocol--Support for the Gopher protocol was removed at the WinINET level. (Gopher support was turned off by default in Internet Explorer 6.)

window.external.ImportExportFavorites--window.external.ImportExportFavorites has been removed in Internet Explorer 7.

Telnet--The Telnet protocol handler is no longer supported in Internet Explorer 7.

SysImage URL Scheme--The SysImage URL Scheme has been removed from Internet Explorer 7.

Status Bar Scripting--Scripts will no longer be able to set the status bar text through the window.status and window.defaultStatus methods by default in the Internet and Restricted Zones. This helps prevent attackers from leveraging those methods to spoof the status bar. To revert to previous behavior and allow scripts to set the status bar through window.status and window.defaultStatus, follow these steps:

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, click Internet Options, and then click the Security tab.
Click Internet or Restricted sites, and then click the Custom level button.
Scroll down to Allow status bar updates via script, select Enable.
Click OK until you return to Internet Explorer.

Security Settings for Script Access to the Clipboard--New security-related updates for Windows Internet Explorer 7 include a change in the default security settings for Script Access to the clipboard. Sites using scripts to access the clipboard in the Internet and Trusted sites zones will receive a prompt that will inform the user that their clipboard is being accessed by script. The prompt will require user permission to continue. Giving permission will allow the website to save information to the clipboard, and read any existing information from the clipboard. This security setting is designed to help prevent the possibility of information disclosure through script access to the clipboard.

Installing Internet Explorer 7 with The Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 operating systems with Service Pack SP1 (SP1)--The home page will be reset to the secure page (res://shdoclc.dll/hardadmin.htm).

Upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Server® 2003 operating systems with Service Pack SP1 (SP1)--Users upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Server® 2003 with the setting Enhance Security Configuration turned on might notice that the machine will not be set to the correct Enhanced Security Configuration (Internet Explorer Hardening) defaults for Internet Explorer 7. To change the settings back to the correct defaults, an administrator should turn OFF Enhanced Security Configuration and then turn it ON again. To do this,

Open the Control panel.
Select Add/ Remove Programs.
Locate the Enhanced Security Configuration option.
Turn it OFF.
And now turn it ON again.

Your server settings would be set to the correct Enhanced Security Configuration defaults for Internet Explorer 7.

Active Desktop--Active Desktop has been removed from Windows Vista. It is still available on 32-bit versions of Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP SP2 with reduced functionality. The following features have changed:

Synchronization of Active Desktop with online content is no longer supported.
The ability to restore Active Desktop if software or the operating system stops responding is no longer supported.
The Active Desktop item’s window does not show the title of the webpage (it shows the address of the webpage).
For a webpage restricted by Content Advisor, the Action Cancelled page is not displayed.