Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player

Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking on
"Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet Explorer
cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely causes". All
three do not apply as...

(1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web pages).
(2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can connect)
(3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link (that
does work with other browsers).

Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it, it
reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link simply
repeats what is above and is no help at all.

I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that IE 7
refused to open.

Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened "Internet
Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".

Russ

Hi Rev,

This looks like the settings, though I have not tested this on Vista (XP
pro, WMP)

Open WMP and select the Tools>Options menu, select the Security tab,

check the option "Do not prompt me before playing enhanced content that uses
web pages"

Save your changes and go back to beethoven.com and try again.

Regards,
"Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>
> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking on
> "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet Explorer
> cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely causes". All
> three do not apply as...
>
> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web pages).
> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can connect)
> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link (that
> does work with other browsers).
>
> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it, it
> reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link simply
> repeats what is above and is no help at all.
>
> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that IE
> 7 refused to open.
>
> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened "Internet
> Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".
>
> Russ

Thanks, Rob, but it wasn't it.

The particular option you mentioned is not in the player that is included
with Vista (v.11), but there are two options, one or both of which should
take care of the situation. Both were checked. they are (1) "Run script
commands and rich media streams when the player is in a web page" and (2)
"Play enhanced content that uses web pages without prompting".

And it seems fairly obvious that this is not the problem as Media Player
does run with the other browsers. The problem is with IE 7, not with WMP.

I also tried to run a different WMP stream from another web page, and it,
too, failed in exactly the same way. But there was a difference. This second
web page (http://paulharvey.com), also offered their stream via Quicktime
(Ugh) and Flash Player (Ugh Ugh). Both those streams ran properly from the
IE 7 web page.

So there's a problem. i can work around the problem with the other browsers,
but, frankly, I do not wish to do so. So I still need help.

Rev

"Rob ^_^" <iecustomizer********.com> wrote in message
news:u2u7HSK2HHA.5740@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi Rev,
>
> This looks like the settings, though I have not tested this on Vista (XP
> pro, WMP)
>
> Open WMP and select the Tools>Options menu, select the Security tab,
>
> check the option "Do not prompt me before playing enhanced content that
> uses web pages"
>
> Save your changes and go back to beethoven.com and try again.
>
> Regards,
> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
> news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
>> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>>
>> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking on
>> "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet Explorer
>> cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely causes". All
>> three do not apply as...
>>
>> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web pages).
>> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can connect)
>> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link
>> (that does work with other browsers).
>>
>> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it, it
>> reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link simply
>> repeats what is above and is no help at all.
>>
>> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
>> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
>> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that
>> IE 7 refused to open.
>>
>> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened
>> "Internet Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".
>>
>> Russ
>
>

Hi Rev,

I am not a Vista machine at the moment, but I am just about to do so. So I
will have a look and test and get back to you shortly.

Regards.
"Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
news:10D13A27-1647-4760-A0E6-25998483B315@microsoft.com...
> Thanks, Rob, but it wasn't it.
>
> The particular option you mentioned is not in the player that is included
> with Vista (v.11), but there are two options, one or both of which should
> take care of the situation. Both were checked. they are (1) "Run script
> commands and rich media streams when the player is in a web page" and (2)
> "Play enhanced content that uses web pages without prompting".
>
> And it seems fairly obvious that this is not the problem as Media Player
> does run with the other browsers. The problem is with IE 7, not with WMP.
>
> I also tried to run a different WMP stream from another web page, and it,
> too, failed in exactly the same way. But there was a difference. This
> second web page (http://paulharvey.com), also offered their stream via
> Quicktime (Ugh) and Flash Player (Ugh Ugh). Both those streams ran
> properly from the IE 7 web page.
>
> So there's a problem. i can work around the problem with the other
> browsers, but, frankly, I do not wish to do so. So I still need help.
>
> Rev
>
> "Rob ^_^" <iecustomizer********.com> wrote in message
> news:u2u7HSK2HHA.5740@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Rev,
>>
>> This looks like the settings, though I have not tested this on Vista (XP
>> pro, WMP)
>>
>> Open WMP and select the Tools>Options menu, select the Security tab,
>>
>> check the option "Do not prompt me before playing enhanced content that
>> uses web pages"
>>
>> Save your changes and go back to beethoven.com and try again.
>>
>> Regards,
>> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
>> news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
>>> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>>>
>>> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking
>>> on "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet
>>> Explorer cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely
>>> causes". All three do not apply as...
>>>
>>> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web
>>> pages).
>>> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can
>>> connect)
>>> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link
>>> (that does work with other browsers).
>>>
>>> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it,
>>> it reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link
>>> simply repeats what is above and is no help at all.
>>>
>>> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
>>> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
>>> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that
>>> IE 7 refused to open.
>>>
>>> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened
>>> "Internet Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".
>>>
>>> Russ
>>
>>
>

Thanks, Rob. I'll be awaiting your reply.

Rev

"Rob ^_^" <iecustomizer********.com> wrote in message
news:OkNKVFV2HHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Hi Rev,
>
> I am not a Vista machine at the moment, but I am just about to do so. So I
> will have a look and test and get back to you shortly.
>
> Regards.
> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
> news:10D13A27-1647-4760-A0E6-25998483B315@microsoft.com...
>> Thanks, Rob, but it wasn't it.
>>
>> The particular option you mentioned is not in the player that is included
>> with Vista (v.11), but there are two options, one or both of which should
>> take care of the situation. Both were checked. they are (1) "Run script
>> commands and rich media streams when the player is in a web page" and (2)
>> "Play enhanced content that uses web pages without prompting".
>>
>> And it seems fairly obvious that this is not the problem as Media Player
>> does run with the other browsers. The problem is with IE 7, not with WMP.
>>
>> I also tried to run a different WMP stream from another web page, and it,
>> too, failed in exactly the same way. But there was a difference. This
>> second web page (http://paulharvey.com), also offered their stream via
>> Quicktime (Ugh) and Flash Player (Ugh Ugh). Both those streams ran
>> properly from the IE 7 web page.
>>
>> So there's a problem. i can work around the problem with the other
>> browsers, but, frankly, I do not wish to do so. So I still need help.
>>
>> Rev
>>
>> "Rob ^_^" <iecustomizer********.com> wrote in message
>> news:u2u7HSK2HHA.5740@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi Rev,
>>>
>>> This looks like the settings, though I have not tested this on Vista (XP
>>> pro, WMP)
>>>
>>> Open WMP and select the Tools>Options menu, select the Security tab,
>>>
>>> check the option "Do not prompt me before playing enhanced content that
>>> uses web pages"
>>>
>>> Save your changes and go back to beethoven.com and try again.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
>>> news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
>>>> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>>>>
>>>> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking
>>>> on "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet
>>>> Explorer cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely
>>>> causes". All three do not apply as...
>>>>
>>>> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web
>>>> pages).
>>>> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can
>>>> connect)
>>>> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link
>>>> (that does work with other browsers).
>>>>
>>>> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it,
>>>> it reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link
>>>> simply repeats what is above and is no help at all.
>>>>
>>>> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
>>>> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
>>>> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that
>>>> IE 7 refused to open.
>>>>
>>>> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened
>>>> "Internet Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".
>>>>
>>>> Russ
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

"Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>
> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking on
> "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet Explorer
> cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely causes". All
> three do not apply as...
>
> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web pages).
> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can connect)

> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link (that
> does work with other browsers).


Then break out that link and try doing something with it manually.
E.g. try opening it explicitly from the Address bar or Run... dialog
or manually open WMP (e.g. from the Start menu) and then in WMP
use Ctrl-U and paste the URL into its Open URL dialog.

http://www.beethoven.com/beethoven_ad.asx

Hint: right-click, Copy Shortcut or get some context for doing a find in View Source.
Then extract the link from there.


>
> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it, it
> reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link simply
> repeats what is above and is no help at all.


Agreed. Instead of testing the problem link that procedure tests other links
with which you may not have a problem.


>
> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that IE 7
> refused to open.


Once WMP is launched it appears that the browser's work is done
for this link. So probably your only problem is that IE7 can't launch
WMP, at least for this .asx file extension.

In fact, telnet shows that the content-type is

Content-Type: video/x-ms-asf

which may be really what IE is trying to go by (and "sniffing" it to be sure.)
So if your other browsers were going only by the file extension
and that association is set up correctly you would have an explanation
at least why they worked differently from IE.

In case you want to try forcing IE to open by file extension too
you can use the Security Settings Custom Level... dialog
to do that (in the Miscellaneous section):

Disable: Open files based on content, not file extension

Hint: Alt-C then O, D, Space


>
> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened "Internet
> Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".


That is how to undo the above change. ; )


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

Robert,

Looks like you've really studied the underpinnings of IE.

I tried your suggestions, and was easily able to open the link directly in
WMP. But I knew that would work, the .asx file opened WMP in other browsers.

One of the things I had tried prior to my first post was to actually paste
the .asx file in the browser directly. I had the same exact results as when
I clicked on the link ... the error page. By the way, there appears to be
virtually no time between the click and the appearance of the error page. It
appears that IE isn't even trying very hard.

In the mean time, I've tried to open a few other .asx files (see, for
example, the ones at http://paulharvey.com) and had the same result, so,
while I haven't clicked on all .asx web streams, it appears that IE 7
generally has a problem with them.

Upon reading your reply, I went into Internet Options and made the change
you suggested, that is to disable "Open files based on content ...". I
closed IE 7 and reopened it. The problem was still there. I then rebooted,
thinking that a reboot may have been necessary. The problem remained.

Doing further research on the problem, I found several internet web page
posts complaining of the same problem. One of them actually claimed a
solution. Their solution did not work for me. Basically, their solution was
to drill down to C: \Users \<User Name> \AppData \Local \Microsoft \Windows
Media and change the name of folder "11.0" to something else. I changed the
name to "Eleven.zero" and this did not work. In fact, when I went back to
the folder to change it's name back, I found a new "11.0" along with the
older folder "Eleven.zero".

I also tried a couple of other things thinking they might help. I
uninstalled "Haute Secure" and I reinabled UAC, which I had previously shut
off. Neither of these actions helped.

Thanks for your help, but I'm still looking for a solution.

Rev


"Robert Aldwinckle" <robald@techemail.com> wrote in message
news:ePgARu32HHA.5360@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
> news:139F8B85-EF42-4245-BF3D-34F2ED717021@microsoft.com...
>> Using Vista Ultimate ... Windows Media Player
>>
>> Specifically .. Opening IE 7 to http://beethoven.com and then clicking on
>> "Play Live Radio" (Upper left), I get an error page "Internet Explorer
>> cannot display the webpage" and it gives the 3 "Most likely causes". All
>> three do not apply as...
>>
>> (1) I am connected to the internet (as I can connect to other web pages).
>> (2) The website is NOT encountering problems (other browsers can connect)
>
>> (3) There is no typing error in the address as I am following a link
>> (that
>> does work with other browsers).
>
>
> Then break out that link and try doing something with it manually.
> E.g. try opening it explicitly from the Address bar or Run... dialog
> or manually open WMP (e.g. from the Start menu) and then in WMP
> use Ctrl-U and paste the URL into its Open URL dialog.
>
> http://www.beethoven.com/beethoven_ad.asx
>
> Hint: right-click, Copy Shortcut or get some context for doing a find in
> View Source.
> Then extract the link from there.
>
>
>>
>> Below the "likely causes" is a "Diagnose" link and when I click on it, it
>> reports "No problems found". Finally, a "More Information" link simply
>> repeats what is above and is no help at all.
>
>
> Agreed. Instead of testing the problem link that procedure tests other
> links
> with which you may not have a problem.
>
>
>>
>> I then opened up three other browsers that I occasionally use, Opera,
>> Firefox, and Safari to the Beethoven.com page and clicked the link. All
>> three opened Windows Media Player, and all three played the stream that
>> IE 7
>> refused to open.
>
>
> Once WMP is launched it appears that the browser's work is done
> for this link. So probably your only problem is that IE7 can't launch
> WMP, at least for this .asx file extension.
>
> In fact, telnet shows that the content-type is
>
> Content-Type: video/x-ms-asf
>
> which may be really what IE is trying to go by (and "sniffing" it to be
> sure.)
> So if your other browsers were going only by the file extension
> and that association is set up correctly you would have an explanation
> at least why they worked differently from IE.
>
> In case you want to try forcing IE to open by file extension too
> you can use the Security Settings Custom Level... dialog
> to do that (in the Miscellaneous section):
>
> Disable: Open files based on content, not file extension
>
> Hint: Alt-C then O, D, Space
>
>
>>
>> Just in case my IE 7 security setting were the problem, I opened
>> "Internet
>> Options", the "Security" Tab, and "Applied" "Default Level".
>
>
> That is how to undo the above change. ; )
>
>
> Good luck
>
> Robert Aldwinckle
> ---
>
>

"Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
news:%23PMDaG52HHA.2064@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl
....

> I tried your suggestions, and was easily able to open the link directly in
> WMP. But I knew that would work, the .asx file opened WMP in other browsers.
>
> One of the things I had tried prior to my first post was to actually paste
> the .asx file in the browser directly. I had the same exact results as when
> I clicked on the link ... the error page. By the way, there appears to be
> virtually no time between the click and the appearance of the error page. It
> appears that IE isn't even trying very hard.


Looks as if you have tried only two out of the three tests I mentioned:

>> E.g. try opening it explicitly from the Address bar or Run... dialog
>> or manually open WMP (e.g. from the Start menu) and then in WMP
>> use Ctrl-U and paste the URL into its Open URL dialog.

Hint: if you try starting it from the Run... dialog it might produce different
symptoms because you would be asking explorer.exe to initiate it,
not just iexplore.exe.

In fact, when I try that (on XP) it still involves IE but the initial IE window
quickly gets converted into a message window from WMP:
<transcription>
This enhanced content you are about to play use the following Web page.
You should only open Web pages from sources that you trust.

http://www.beethoven.com/nowplayingad.htm
</transcription>

WMP is still launched apart from that and starts playing
(provided I'm not in a Work Offline state)
but stops playing as soon as I reply No to the prompt
about the Ad. With a Work Offline state I had to respond
to both prompts in order to get the player going. YMMV.


In case WMP is being chosen but just not launched for security/obscurity
reasons you could check for that by running ProcMon to capture traces
of your tests.


Good luck

Robert
---

Thanks, Robert.

I have now tried opening http://beethoven.com/beethoven_ad.asx in "Run".
Same result, the IE 7 error page.

I also ran ProcMon (version 1.21) while running this test. Frankly, I'm over
my head here. I don't know how to read the results, but I did run a "Find"
on "wmp" and found it in serveral places. Virtually all the results were
linked to either wmpnetwk.exe or iexplore.exe, but some had secondary links
to various .dll files from WMP. It appeared that each instance the result
was "Success".

Perhaps you could give me a "hint' as to the use of ProcMon. While I do know
a great deal about computers and the Windows Operating Systems (mostly from
making bad mistakes), I was a Math Major back in 1963 when I learned Fortran
IV (had access to an IBM 360 - 16Kb memory), and Computer Science was still
a dream in the eye of most University Administrators.

Rev

"Robert Aldwinckle" <robald@techemail.com> wrote in message
news:O8LsAsR3HHA.5980@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> "Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
> news:%23PMDaG52HHA.2064@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl
> ...
>
>> I tried your suggestions, and was easily able to open the link directly
>> in
>> WMP. But I knew that would work, the .asx file opened WMP in other
>> browsers.
>>
>> One of the things I had tried prior to my first post was to actually
>> paste
>> the .asx file in the browser directly. I had the same exact results as
>> when
>> I clicked on the link ... the error page. By the way, there appears to be
>> virtually no time between the click and the appearance of the error page.
>> It
>> appears that IE isn't even trying very hard.
>
>
> Looks as if you have tried only two out of the three tests I mentioned:
>
>>> E.g. try opening it explicitly from the Address bar or Run... dialog
>>> or manually open WMP (e.g. from the Start menu) and then in WMP
>>> use Ctrl-U and paste the URL into its Open URL dialog.
>
> Hint: if you try starting it from the Run... dialog it might produce
> different
> symptoms because you would be asking explorer.exe to initiate it,
> not just iexplore.exe.
>
> In fact, when I try that (on XP) it still involves IE but the initial IE
> window
> quickly gets converted into a message window from WMP:
> <transcription>
> This enhanced content you are about to play use the following Web page.
> You should only open Web pages from sources that you trust.
>
> http://www.beethoven.com/nowplayingad.htm
> </transcription>
>
> WMP is still launched apart from that and starts playing
> (provided I'm not in a Work Offline state)
> but stops playing as soon as I reply No to the prompt
> about the Ad. With a Work Offline state I had to respond
> to both prompts in order to get the player going. YMMV.
>
>
> In case WMP is being chosen but just not launched for
> security/obscurity
> reasons you could check for that by running ProcMon to capture traces
> of your tests.
>
>
> Good luck
>
> Robert
> ---
>
>

"Rev OOC" <NoSpam******.com> wrote in message
news:0C2C3F31-0CE0-49EB-83CB-2D012DF8A8B9@microsoft.com...
> Thanks, Robert.
>
> I have now tried opening http://beethoven.com/beethoven_ad.asx in "Run".
> Same result, the IE 7 error page.
>
> I also ran ProcMon (version 1.21) while running this test. Frankly, I'm over
> my head here. I don't know how to read the results, but I did run a "Find"
> on "wmp" and found it in serveral places. Virtually all the results were
> linked to either wmpnetwk.exe or iexplore.exe, but some had secondary links
> to various .dll files from WMP. It appeared that each instance the result
> was "Success".


Interesting! Unfortunately it looks as if you are going to have to find someone
with Vista who doesn't have your problem symptom and willing to do the same
test for you. Alternatively, if you can dual boot with a more basic system which
doesn't have the problem symptom you could do your own baseline trace.

FWIW I suspect that wmpnetwk.exe may be a Vista service.
E.g. I see (on XP) most of what you are describing associated with a svchost.exe

Or maybe not... E.g. perhaps it's due to a configuration option that you have
set? ; ]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...q/sharing.mspx

(Live Search for
wmpnetwk site:microsoft.com
)

Check that you have the correct firewall settings for that option?
Hint: Check: View All Answers and then do Ctrl-f (Find) for wmpnetwk
Hmm... scroll ahead (or do some more finds for Vista) after that...


>
> Perhaps you could give me a "hint' as to the use of ProcMon.


Sorry, I don't know enough about WMP to be able to tell you what to look for
especially because of that wmpnetwk.exe wrinkle. FWIW after all those
wmp*.dll modules are checked and read in eventually iexplore.exe hands
off to wmplayer.exe. I did see some security/obscurity zone checking
going on in between those events; so, given Vista's preoccupation with such
impediments that might be something worth checking for too. <eg>

Oops. I guess that's the sort of thing I was thinking of when I said:

>> In case WMP is being chosen but just not launched for security/obscurity
>> reasons you could check for that by running ProcMon to capture traces
>> of your tests.

I don't call it "security/obscurity" just because it sounds cynical... <eg>


Good luck

Robert
---