get IE7 to play nice...

June 3, 2008 10:45 AM

How to get EXPLORER 7 to open ?

I am running XP on a Parallels equipped Macbook Pro.

It seems that I installed Explorer 7 on the XP side and now I can't use Explorer. When running Explorer 6 I had no problems. When I click the icon nothing happens. What do I need to do ?

I use Firefox, but 1 work website can only be used with Explorer.

posted by dawdle to computers & internet (5 comments total)

You know, I had that problem myself.

Basically, I installed XP (/w SP2), and ran Windows Update and let it install the 97 or so pending critical updates. I also installed IE7 as part of that process.

Except, once it finished and rebooted IE7 would just not work. I would click on it and, as you describe, it would just not do anything. No error message. No nothing.

So, on a hunch I went to the Microsoft website with another browser and downloaded the stand alone installer for IE7 and re-installed it and rebooted and it worked just fine.

Maybe try that?
posted by kbanas at 11:04 AM on June 3, 2008

Another thing you can try is go to the Internet Control Panel (Start->Control Panel->Internet Options) and on the Advanced tab there should be a Reset... button. This will reregister all of the IE components (and reset a bunch of things such as history and the cache). This is very similar to re-installing without quite as much pain. I'd try that first.

Another thing you can try is starting IE without add-ons: Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Internet Explorer (no add-ons).
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:09 AM on June 3, 2008

Don't know if this will solve your problem or not, but you might try using IE Tab, which renders IE as a tab inside Firefox.
posted by echo target at 11:19 AM on June 3, 2008

Another vote for reinstalling IE7 using the standalone package. Also, is this straight Parallels virtualization or are you running Parallels off of a Boot Camp partition? I have had no problems doing it that way. Finally, SP2 or SP3? Updating may help.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:34 AM on June 3, 2008

Re-install it. This happened to about 5/120 computers to me recently.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:36 PM on June 3, 2008