'Favorites' inactive/unrecognized since IE8 reset

Iceman107 · #1 May 12th, 2012, 04:33 PM

After resetting my IE8 settings to default my Favorites listings (although they show they are still listed) are z'd out and will NOT activate when clicked on.
Their icons (for each listing) has been replaced by the icon that is used when a file SHOULD be there but there isn't the proper thing to open it. Sorry, I don't know the name of the icon.

**AnnMarie** · #2 May 13th, 2012, 02:17 AM

Hi Iceman, check C:\Documents and Settings\UserName, are all the Favorites still stored there?

If they are there, open your IE, click Favorites, expand "Add to Favorites", choose Import and Export Favorites - Import from a file - Next, then choose the Favorites file location.

Let us know if this helped.

Iceman107 · #3 May 13th, 2012, 03:01 AM

AnnMarie-
Don't think you're clear on the matter.
All of my Favorites stored under the Username with the STAR icon for Favorites is the exact same situation as my Favorites in Explorer. In fact I'll go one further. I back up my Favorites weekly on a seperate external hard drive and even THOSE Favorites look like the others (no icons and just a description of the websites). Again they ALL have that icon that always shows when there's no detection of anything being there. I'm perplexed. I'm thinking now that it's more of a WindowsXP issue? Especially since this just occured and I have 2 backups (from the last 2 weeks) on an external drive that copied the Favorites without issue. The last backup was on the 2 days ago and my Favorites were fine at the time. So the question is not just isolated to my Faorites list (perse') on my Explorer but why can't they be read from EITHER drive?

**AnnMarie** · #4 May 13th, 2012, 03:07 AM

That icon is called a favicon and this often happens when a browser cache is emptied. See here

So is the issue just regarding favicons or dont the links open either? If the latter, try the suggestion I posted.

Iceman107 · #5 May 13th, 2012, 03:41 AM

Okay, I get to the point of "Where do you want to Import your Favorites from?
I get this in the address bar:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\bookmark.htm
I click it and it says to "choose a valid entry."
So what's a valid entry?

**AnnMarie** · #6 May 13th, 2012, 03:44 AM

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Favorites

Iceman107 · #7 May 13th, 2012, 04:13 AM

Didn't work.
Said there was "no Favorites file name" and couldn't proceed even though the pop up window showed the Favorites folder and all of my Favorites listed in it.

**AnnMarie** · #8 May 13th, 2012, 04:53 AM

Ok, just in case it's a registry issue, we will reset all the shell folders back to default. Go here and download and run the reg fix. Reboot afterwards and let me know if this helped.

Iceman107 · #9 May 13th, 2012, 07:32 AM

I applaud your efforts AnnMarie and I believe you're on the right track as I started having this problem after using a utility that was recommended by someone named Murph on another 'help' site. The utility is called RegScrubXP.
Unfortunately your 'RegFix' suggestion didn't work and for the recorded I attempted a System Restore to a couple of different dates and was unable to have it restored by either. Back to the drawing board...

**AnnMarie** · #10 May 13th, 2012, 11:48 AM

Does that utility not keep backups? If so, try restoring the registry entries it deleted and reboot.

Iceman107 · #11 May 13th, 2012, 01:58 PM

I have since deleted that program for obvious reasons.

**Murf** · #12 May 13th, 2012, 05:30 PM

You initial problem started with USB. You have a USB "Hub" attached to the one USB port you have right? Apparently you did manage to get that fixed according to your other thread.

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/...d.php?t=219111

You ran regscrubxp and now still having problems with IE. Regscrubxp may have removed something to cause this, I don't know, when I ran XP used that program many times with no problems, but any registry cleaner can cause a problem.

If you accidentally choose to fix the wrong entries, the software makes available a restore function capable to revert all changes made to the registries to their original condition. But unfortunately you installed the program.

Does this happen when you open IE8 without Add-Ons?

Start | (All) Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Internet Explorer (No add-ons)

Iceman107 · #13 May 14th, 2012, 12:09 AM

Murph-
I accept full responsibility for running the program.
Here's the latest-
When I plug my external hard drive (that has the backup copies of my Favorites lists that didn’t work on my computer) into a LAPTOP computer the backed up Favorites work just fine...icons included for each entry.
This narrows the problem down SPECIFICALLY to my computer. So whatever the problem is with my computer/XP not recognizing the Favorites is the mystery at hand.

**Murf** · #14 May 14th, 2012, 12:43 AM

Does the laptop have IE8???

So its not the favorites file, its XP and the version of IE that it has the problem.

Sometimes IE 8 has a problem importing favorites from IE 7 don't know why but have run into it before. But reading thru your posts you backed up with IE8 and are dealing with IE8 only right?

IE could have a corrupt system file. I would re-register all the IE system files;

1. Quit all programs that are running.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. Type regsvr32 urlmon.dll, and then click OK.
4. When you receive the "DllRegisterServer in urlmon.dll succeeded" message, click OK

If this does not resolve the problem, do it for each of the following files ( replace Urlmon.dll with each of the file names below)

Shdocvw.dll
Actxprxy.dll
Oleaut32.dll
Mshtml.dll
Browseui.dll
Shell32.dll

Iceman107 · #15 May 14th, 2012, 01:33 AM

The laptop is Windows 7 so I assume it's IE9 (not MY laptop).

Applied your suggestion to each of the files. Interesting to note, when I entered Mshtml.dll I got the following pop-up window:

"Mshtml.dll was loaded but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found. The file can not be registered."

Is this a clue perhaps?