Please take another look at the thread titled, "Page Saved as .mht Won't Open
in IE7," started on 2/13/2009 7:42 PM PST by Todd Henry, and reply either
here or there. No real solutions have been posted so far. Key points from
my own observations are:

1) Todd is not alone, nor does the problem appear to be
installation-specific. I've been having what is apparently the same problem
lately (not sure exactly when it started), with or without an active Internet
connection.

2) This problem occurs on two different machines of mine with different
versions of Windows XP and, consequenetly I suppose, slightly different
versions of IE7. (The only obvious common element in my case is ZoneAlarm
Security Suite 8.0298.035 -- not sure about Todd's. Otherwise these two
installations are quite different.)

3) Nothing seems to be happening in Task Manger, except System Idle
Processes, during the freeze-up of IE7.

4) I can still open an OLD .mht file (saved in Nov, 2008, probably with IE6)
in IE7, with or without an Internet connection, suggesting that it might be
the "save" side of the transaction that's troublesome.

5) Renaming the recent (non-opening) files with MS-DOS-compatible file names
doesn't help,

Thanks in advance for any help! -- JCW

"JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A911B90F-65E7-4D87-B37A-0818329DF07A@microsoft.com...

> Please take another look at the thread titled, "Page Saved as .mht Won't Open
> in IE7," started on 2/13/2009 7:42 PM PST by Todd Henry,

http://www.microsoft.com/communities...6-9dada5b3dfc7


> and reply either here or there. No real solutions have been posted so far.


We were trying to get adequate diagnostics for an explanation
or better workarounds than Todd had already found.

AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.

BTW do Todd's workarounds work for you too?
E.g. rename .mht to .eml and open it in OE
or rename it to .uue and opening it in WinZip?

BTW thanks for starting your own thread.
It will avoid confusion if we discover that your symptoms,
configuration, or other details are different from Todd's.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---


> Key points from my own observations are:
>
> 1) Todd is not alone, nor does the problem appear to be
> installation-specific. I've been having what is apparently the same problem
> lately (not sure exactly when it started), with or without an active Internet
> connection.
>
> 2) This problem occurs on two different machines of mine with different
> versions of Windows XP and, consequenetly I suppose, slightly different
> versions of IE7. (The only obvious common element in my case is ZoneAlarm
> Security Suite 8.0298.035 -- not sure about Todd's. Otherwise these two
> installations are quite different.)
>
> 3) Nothing seems to be happening in Task Manger, except System Idle
> Processes, during the freeze-up of IE7.
>
> 4) I can still open an OLD .mht file (saved in Nov, 2008, probably with IE6)
> in IE7, with or without an Internet connection, suggesting that it might be
> the "save" side of the transaction that's troublesome.
>
> 5) Renaming the recent (non-opening) files with MS-DOS-compatible file names
> doesn't help,
>
> Thanks in advance for any help! -- JCW
>

>>AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.<<


Robert -- Since I don't know how to attach files to forum posts, I'll try
sending a direct e-mail to the address in your profile. Please let me know
whether you receive it. -- JCW



"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

> "JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A911B90F-65E7-4D87-B37A-0818329DF07A@microsoft.com...
>
> > Please take another look at the thread titled, "Page Saved as .mht Won't Open
> > in IE7," started on 2/13/2009 7:42 PM PST by Todd Henry,
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/communities...6-9dada5b3dfc7
>
>
> > and reply either here or there. No real solutions have been posted so far.
>
>
> We were trying to get adequate diagnostics for an explanation
> or better workarounds than Todd had already found.
>
> AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
> one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.
>
> BTW do Todd's workarounds work for you too?
> E.g. rename .mht to .eml and open it in OE
> or rename it to .uue and opening it in WinZip?
>
> BTW thanks for starting your own thread.
> It will avoid confusion if we discover that your symptoms,
> configuration, or other details are different from Todd's.
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert Aldwinckle

"JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A36A665F-BBCA-4E32-BC31-03770FA12751@microsoft.com...
>>>AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
> one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.<<
>
>
> Robert -- Since I don't know how to attach files to forum posts, I'll try
> sending a direct e-mail to the address in your profile. Please let me know
> whether you receive it. -- JCW


That is NOT an .mht file (Web Archive, single file). It is probably an
instance of the use of Web Page Complete (*.htm; *.html)
To simplify receipt of that you could have zipped it first,
so that in either case I would only have to deal with one attachment,
not the 27 you have sent me. My web mail service does not have
a convenient method for dealing with that number of attachments.
Meanwhile I can try forwarding it to one of my other E-mail services
and see if they can help me deal with that number of attachments
any more easily.

Amazingly, the whole KB article renders below your message
when I view it in HTML mode, presumably by appropriately
combining all the attached pieces, so so far I would say NTF. ; )


HTH

Robert
---


>
>
>
> "Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:
>
>> "JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A911B90F-65E7-4D87-B37A-0818329DF07A@microsoft.com...
>>
>> > Please take another look at the thread titled, "Page Saved as .mht Won't Open
>> > in IE7," started on 2/13/2009 7:42 PM PST by Todd Henry,
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/communities...6-9dada5b3dfc7
>>
>>
>> > and reply either here or there. No real solutions have been posted so far.
>>
>>
>> We were trying to get adequate diagnostics for an explanation
>> or better workarounds than Todd had already found.
>>
>> AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
>> one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.
>>
>> BTW do Todd's workarounds work for you too?
>> E.g. rename .mht to .eml and open it in OE
>> or rename it to .uue and opening it in WinZip?
>>
>> BTW thanks for starting your own thread.
>> It will avoid confusion if we discover that your symptoms,
>> configuration, or other details are different from Todd's.
>>
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Robert Aldwinckle
>

>>That is NOT an .mht file (Web Archive, single file).<<

Robert -- Sorry. On my machine it shows up and handles as a single file.
It was produced by the default "Save As", which calls itself "Web archive,
single file (*.mht)." Maybe something in Outlook 2007 converted the
attachment. (I view all messages as plain text, so I wouldn't have noticed
the expansion.) I'll try again, zipping it first in hopes of preventing any
transformation. -- JCW




"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

>
> "JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A36A665F-BBCA-4E32-BC31-03770FA12751@microsoft.com...
> >>>AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
> > one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.<<
> >
> >
> > Robert -- Since I don't know how to attach files to forum posts, I'll try
> > sending a direct e-mail to the address in your profile. Please let me know
> > whether you receive it. -- JCW
>
>
> That is NOT an .mht file (Web Archive, single file). It is probably an
> instance of the use of Web Page Complete (*.htm; *.html)
> To simplify receipt of that you could have zipped it first,
> so that in either case I would only have to deal with one attachment,
> not the 27 you have sent me. My web mail service does not have
> a convenient method for dealing with that number of attachments.
> Meanwhile I can try forwarding it to one of my other E-mail services
> and see if they can help me deal with that number of attachments
> any more easily.
>
> Amazingly, the whole KB article renders below your message
> when I view it in HTML mode, presumably by appropriately
> combining all the attached pieces, so so far I would say NTF. ; )
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert

>>BTW do Todd's workarounds work for you too?
E.g. rename .mht to .eml and open it in OE
or rename it to .uue and opening it in WinZip?<<


Robert --

I finally got around to trying Todd's workarounds. The former works fine.
Regarding the latter, I don't have WinZip; but PKZip does not recognize it as
a valid .uue file.

Did you have any luck with the zipped version of the file that I sent on
Thursday?

Best Regards -- JCW



"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

> We were trying to get adequate diagnostics for an explanation
> or better workarounds than Todd had already found.
>
> AFAIK Todd didn't take up my offer to either E-mail or post
> one of the problem .mht files as an attachment.
>
> BTW do Todd's workarounds work for you too?
> E.g. rename .mht to .eml and open it in OE
> or rename it to .uue and opening it in WinZip?
>
> BTW thanks for starting your own thread.
> It will avoid confusion if we discover that your symptoms,
> configuration, or other details are different from Todd's.
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert Aldwinckle

"JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7C59D0C3-C794-46A8-A038-48C50D519A43@microsoft.com...


> Did you have any luck with the zipped version of the file that I sent on
> Thursday?


Actually I found it depressingly easy to reproduce your symptom.
E.g. save KB123456 as archive. Try to open it. Hang IE.

So far the only new workaround I have found is modifying the
..mht's HTML with MOTW and then modifying my Internet zone
security settings to either avoid scripting or set it to prompt.
For some bizarre reason when it is set to prompt I *can* make
it render without hanging the task. Probably some weird timing
factors nobody thought of. Or more security/obscurity. ; }

BTW the hang symptom itself is interesting. ProcMon shows that
the last thing that happens in the problem task is 4 threads exit.
Then all I see using Task Manager is that the problem task is
doing nothing but trying to do something with I/O Other
but I/O Other Bytes is static. Makes me think that they are
forgetting that there is no Internet connection. ; }

Unfortunately I have found previous reports from others in which it was
noted that the symptom does not occur in Vista. I myself noted that it
doesn't occur in W7, so we may be out of luck regarding the possibility
of ever seeing a fix for this in XP. E.g. there is no security aspect which
can be exploited (which could cause it to be fixed via a security update)
and there is a workaround available. Just the frustrating reality of having
problem symptoms only in old versions of products I'm afraid.

The only other possibility I think will be that someone with a support
contract (or someone who wants to pay for support) comes along
and demands a hotfix be made. Then I suppose we could eventually
see such a hotfix integrated with a QFE version of a security update.


FYI

Robert
---

Robert -- Thanks for all your efforts! They will undoubtedly help others
besides me and Todd. For what it's worth, I had two furhter thoughts:

1) It can't hurt to send Micorsoft an automated problem report every time
this happens.

2) Do you know if upgrading to IE8 -- still under XP -- will help? (I think
this may require updating XP to SP3, which Lenovo is still advising against.
In any case, I don't trust IE8 yet -- since it's so new -- but a solution to
this problem might make the risk worthwhile...

Best Regards. -- JCW



"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

>
> "JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7C59D0C3-C794-46A8-A038-48C50D519A43@microsoft.com...
>
>
> > Did you have any luck with the zipped version of the file that I sent on
> > Thursday?
>
>
> Actually I found it depressingly easy to reproduce your symptom.
> E.g. save KB123456 as archive. Try to open it. Hang IE.
>
> So far the only new workaround I have found is modifying the
> ..mht's HTML with MOTW and then modifying my Internet zone
> security settings to either avoid scripting or set it to prompt.
> For some bizarre reason when it is set to prompt I *can* make
> it render without hanging the task. Probably some weird timing
> factors nobody thought of. Or more security/obscurity. ; }
>
> BTW the hang symptom itself is interesting. ProcMon shows that
> the last thing that happens in the problem task is 4 threads exit.
> Then all I see using Task Manager is that the problem task is
> doing nothing but trying to do something with I/O Other
> but I/O Other Bytes is static. Makes me think that they are
> forgetting that there is no Internet connection. ; }
>
> Unfortunately I have found previous reports from others in which it was
> noted that the symptom does not occur in Vista. I myself noted that it
> doesn't occur in W7, so we may be out of luck regarding the possibility
> of ever seeing a fix for this in XP. E.g. there is no security aspect which
> can be exploited (which could cause it to be fixed via a security update)
> and there is a workaround available. Just the frustrating reality of having
> problem symptoms only in old versions of products I'm afraid.
>
> The only other possibility I think will be that someone with a support
> contract (or someone who wants to pay for support) comes along
> and demands a hotfix be made. Then I suppose we could eventually
> see such a hotfix integrated with a QFE version of a security update.
>
>
> FYI
>
> Robert
> ---
>
>
>

"JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:2CC30435-CFE7-4F90-ADA2-8D1A2482F9E1@microsoft.com...
> Robert -- Thanks for all your efforts! They will undoubtedly help others
> besides me and Todd. For what it's worth, I had two furhter thoughts:
>

> 1) It can't hurt to send Micorsoft an automated problem report every time
> this happens.


As long as you don't get frustrated doing it. ; )


> 2) Do you know if upgrading to IE8 -- still under XP -- will help?


Not for this symptom.


> (I think this may require updating XP to SP3, which Lenovo is still advising against.


I don't know of such a requirement. In fact, IIRC, I had a heck of a time
trying to avoid IE8 in order to get AU to offer XPsp3 first. I wanted it
that way so I could uninstall IE8 without having to uninstall XPsp3 first.


> In any case, I don't trust IE8 yet -- since it's so new -- but a solution to
> this problem might make the risk worthwhile...


IE8 works fine for me, with useful new features too.


Good luck

Robert
---

[see reply below]

>> "JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A36A665F-BBCA-4E32-BC31-03770FA12751@microsoft.com...
>>>
>>> Robert -- Since I don't know how to attach files to forum posts, I'll
>>> try sending a direct e-mail to the address in your profile. Please let
>>> me know whether you receive it. -- JCW


>"Robert Aldwinckle" <robald@techemail.com> wrote in message
>> news:u$bSO403JHA.2656@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>
>> That is NOT an .mht file (Web Archive, single file). It is probably
>> an instance of the use of Web Page Complete (*.htm; *.html)
>> To simplify receipt of that you could have zipped it first,
>> so that in either case I would only have to deal with one attachment,
>> not the 27 you have sent me.
[snip]


"JCW" <JCW@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:486FE511-C3FB-47CD-A71C-23E84363FC27@microsoft.com...
>
> Robert -- Sorry. On my machine it shows up and handles as a single file.
> It was produced by the default "Save As", which calls itself "Web archive,
> single file (*.mht)." Maybe something in Outlook 2007 converted the
> attachment. (I view all messages as plain text, so I wouldn't have
> noticed the expansion.) I'll try again, zipping it first in hopes of
> preventing any transformation. -- JCW

Hi Robert and JCW, actually it was an MHT (mhtml) file. The M stands for
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), which is the same encoding
that email and mail attachments use. Apparently, the receiving mail reader
interpreted the MHT attachment as a "multi-part message in MIME format"
PACKET, and separately de-coded each of the parts into separate files, as if
there had been 27 separate files attached to the original email. And yes, it
is always a good idea to ZIP all email attachments, even if only a single
plain text document, to reduce connect time, and internet bandwidth.

If you open Windows NOTEPAD, and drag and drop an MHT file into it, you will
see that it is mostly human readable ASCII characters, with some hexadecimal
codes, such as "3D", which is the same as decimal "61", the character number
for the "=" equal sign. Maximize the Notepad window, (and display with a
fixed width font like "Courier New",) and you will see that all the lines
are 76 characters or less, the same as typical USENET newsgroup line length
limits. For illustration, I added a small GIF graphic to a simple HTM page
on my local drive, and saved as MHT. Here's the header part of the MHT
before the HTML part:

[begin quote:]
From: <Saved by Microsoft Internet Explorer 5>
Subject: Blank Start-up Page
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:25:55 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related;
type="text/html";
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C9E2FF.8C3C26E0"
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5512

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C9E2FF.8C3C26E0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="Windows-1252"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Location: file://C:\OldStuff\BLANK.HTM
[:end quote]

Note that the first part of the MHT file looks like an email message, and I
used IE6 to make the MHT, not IE5, so apparently that file save function in
the browser was not changed in the later IE version. Also note that the
MimeOLE Version number above is the same as my Outlook Express version
number in headers of my newsgroup messages. (Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512)
There is some connection between OE and IE, and if I recall correctly, when
upgrading to IE7 or IE8, Outlook Express is not upgraded, but remains
version 6. (BTW: I'm using XP-pro SP3.)

Could the problems with MHT files not opening in IE7 have something to do
with the MimeOLE version, rather than being either IE or OE issues? Could
third party mail readers or IE addons affect the way MHT files are saved or
displayed? or if a mail program other than Outlook Express or Outlook is set
as the default? (I'm just thinking outloud. :)

Here's the "NextPart" from the end of the html part:

[begin quote:]
</P></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C9E2FF.8C3C26E0
Content-Type: image/gif
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Location: file:///C:/OldStuff/papyr.gif

R0lGODlhMAAwALMAAAAAAIAAAACAAICAAAAAgIAAgACAgMDAwI CAgP8AAP/du///AAAA//8A///u
zP//7iH5BAQAAAAALAAAAAAwADAAAATX8EnpJrWvWj353ZjmZWEJnp 35KKTitm/lsnK82jNM31+K
9kDST4ghBkdI1fG2y9WauCh0aqwmh1efL7vEKonUp24sLjNhXW 16XVVbv9y382ye26VkuN7Lj/v3
WmF0g3eCd2x/fG5uiYx6hXmQdXiNiIAflW+KPYaUhJ6Hmo6bopelp0mSn52sqK aZIq+yKK2TtZ+W
pJmjvLkpqsCgnrqzo7DFnJHCt6HHxEO9rsTBzMvS0c7O2CrV3c q+4Kfbz47Uyt7a4Vfp18m25/CT
6sht8+QX5u/6dBEAIf6HqTIwMDAgYnkgUmljaENsYXJrN0Bhb2wuY29tDQpDb 3B5cmlnaHQ6IEFs
bCBSaWdodHMgUmVzZXJ2ZWQuDQpBLlYuIEJpYmxlIFRyYWN0cy BhbmQgQm9va3MNClAuTy4gQm94
IDcyMjkyDQpOZXdwb3J0LCBLWSwgVVNBLCA0MTA3Mi0wMjkyAD s=

------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C9E2FF.8C3C26E0--
[:end quote]

Again, notice the GIF in base64 encoded lines are 76 characters long or
less. When I right-clicked on the GIF in the original page, and chose Save
Picture As, GIF file type was preselected. When I did the same with the GIF
in the MHT displayed page, BMP file type was preselected. Another test I
did, with an animated GIF, confirmed that the MHT was properly decoded in
IE6, and the GIF displayed with animation active. But again, I could only
"Save Picture As" in BMP format, with only the first of the several pictures
in the GIF being saved in BMP (Bit Map Picture) format.

P.S. Another peculiarity. The IE6 toolbar, with the original HTM page
displayed, had a Notepad icon with tool tip "Edit with Notepad"; but when I
clicked Forward, to view the MHT version of the page, the icon changed and
had tool tip "Edit with Microsoft Office Excel". The right-click "View
Source" opened in Notepad in either case.

FWIW.
--Richard

"Richard" <richard@avbtab.org> wrote in message news:u$a5qcN5JHA.1380@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> [see reply below]

> For illustration, I added a small GIF graphic to a simple HTM page
> on my local drive, and saved as MHT. Here's the header part of the MHT
> before the HTML part:


Seeing that I can recreate OP's symptom but circumvent it by setting
Active Scripting to Prompt, I think any simulations should also include
some kind of scripting component. ; )


> P.S. Another peculiarity. The IE6 toolbar, with the original HTM page
> displayed, had a Notepad icon with tool tip "Edit with Notepad"; but when I
> clicked Forward, to view the MHT version of the page, the icon changed and
> had tool tip "Edit with Microsoft Office Excel". The right-click "View
> Source" opened in Notepad in either case.


That detail would only be apparent after the .mht file was rendered.


>
> FWIW.
> --Richard


Have you tried saving KB123456 (as an arbitrary KB article)
as an .mht and then opening it?


Good luck

Robert
---