Does IE fail to connect to your network?

Something gets hosed on your Win2000 PC, and IE6 will not allow you to connect to the internet. Possibly you just added a router/firewall to your configuration, and have done some updates with service packs and patches. You've checked all the settings for your network, TCP/IP, and IE, and it still will not work. If you are lucky enough to have also installed one or more alternate browsers, such as Netscape, Mozilla, or Opera, perhaps you find that these work as they should, but nothing can induce IE to make a connection.

So what could be wrong?

According to www.microsoft.com, if you search the Support/knowedge base, there could be a couple of problems. One is that some 3rd party software has usurped the Winsock2 key in your CurrentControlSet settings. The suggestion is to find a PC that is running Win2000 and IE successfully, and then use Start/Run/Regedit to export that key to a file, then use the same tool on your troubled PC to import it. As I learned, you can also install Win2000 on a different drive in the same PC, and use it to do the export and import by booting to each install in turn.

The problem is, the above step only seems to allow other browsers to work if they are unable to initiate socket services using Winsock2. IE will still probably not work. What I have found, though, is that the Original install of Win2k can easily run the IEXPLORE.EXE program set up under the second install, and the second can also run the version still under the original install, as well as its own. This has led to the realization that somehow the original link between the desktop and the IEXPLORE.EXE seems to have been compromised. In fact I just copied the folder C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer to a different point or drive in my system, then double-clicked on IEXPLORE.EXE, and it worked fine! Si I drug IEXPLORE.EXE to the desktop, made a shortcut out of it, then deleted the original icon so that I would not attempt that route again. I also found the Internet Explorer link under Start/Programs/Internet Explorer, clicked on its Properties, and modified its path to point to the copied folder/file. And it all works just fine, even getting the necessary updates from www.windowsupdate.com without problems.