FTP issues in IE

[starmedtechguy]

Currently I am having an issue with one user that has a problem connecting to any FTP site using IE. When trying to access any FTP site the user gets the error message that follows...

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“Windows cannot access this folder. Make sure you typed the file name correctly and that you have permission to access the folder.

Details:
A connection with the server could not be established.”

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If this user logs into any other system they have the same problem.
If I log into their system I have no problem.
If I’m logged in to their account an go to the command prompt and use the ftp command and attempt to connect to the same server it connects just fine.
I’ve created a dummy user account with their profile and through trial and error have narrowed the problem down to the ntuser.dat file. If I exchange that with another users ntuser.dat file it works fine, but obviously that would not make for a very good solution.
I’ve tried using compare it to compare their registry setting for their user account against my own and editing all the relevant differences has yielded no results.

Unfortunately in this case blowing out the profile and having the user start over again is not an available option.

Any thoughts?

 

[erikhertzel]

Have you tried just reinstalling IE?

Erik

 

[starmedtechguy]

Yeah. I didn't think it would help because any other user can use the FTP functions with no problem but I gave it a shot anyway. Unfortunatly it did not resolve the issue.

 

[smah]

Make sure that 'Enable folder view for ftp sites' & 'Use passive FTP' is set in the Advanced tab of Internet Options.

 

[starmedtechguy]

Both of those are set. Unfortunatly it did not resolve the issue.

 

[smah]

Try the IEFix tool

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm

 

[starmedtechguy]

I appreciate the info but that did not help either. I don't believe the problem is with IE itself since one user is able to use the FTP functions on the comptuer just fine while another is not and swapping out the NTUSER.DAT file fixes the issue. The problem seems to be related more to the profile then to the program, though I'm open to trying anything at this point. Thanks again for the input.

 

[smah]

I didn't have much hope for that last one because most of the things it does are system-wide and you had already narrowed the problem to the user's registry hive. The FTP settings in the advanced tab of IE are saved in the current_user hive. I suspect that you'll have to do some comparing at the registry level to find the problem - possibly a corrupt key? Look at \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\FTP

The other thing that I wanted to ask is: does the user account have the same problem with a direct link to an ftp site like ftp://ftp.linksys.com? Depending on how the direct link reacts, it might be worth looking in Windows Explorer, Folder Options, File Types tab, URL:File Transfer Protocol, Advanced button & related settings.

 

[theniteowl]

starmedtechguy,
This statement is the biggest clue you have

If this user logs into any other system they have the same problem.

The problem is not the registry entries for this person if the problem follows them from computer to computer since ther registry entries will not follow them.
This means one of two things, the user is somehow restricted from access to that site which I do not see how since you have not at that point passed credentials, or a policy is in place limiting FTP access.

Is it possible that this users logon ID is somehow flagged for different routing or treatment in the firewall to restrict access?


It's hard to think outside the box when I'm trapped in a cubicle.

 

[theniteowl]

Look at this info and see if it applies.

http://www.kbalertz.com/kb_814473.aspx

It's hard to think outside the box when I'm trapped in a cubicle.

 

[smah]

ntuser.dat is a registry hive with settings that are specific to the user. In a roaming profile environment this will follow the user.