“IE cannot display the webpage” after each Windows logon

[Thomas R]

“IE cannot display the webpage” after each Windows logon

After each Windows logon when I try to open a webpage I get the following message: “IE cannot display the webpage”
I have to go to Tools –> Internet options –> Connections tab –> LAN settings and check “Automatically detect settings” to enable browsing.
If this was a one time deal it would be fine but every time I log off, restart the computer or connect to another network (this is on a laptop) Windows forgets this setting and I have to re-check “Automatically detect settings”.

I only have this issue on one of my computers – the others don’t have this problem nor do they need the check at “Automatically detect settings” to browse webpages properly.

I have this issue since I did a clean re-install of Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and used EasyTransfer to transfer my account and files (which btw failed to transfer my Windows Live Mail accounts properly so that I hat to do that manually).

This issue is very annoying.

What is wrong and how can I fix it?

 

[Maguscreed]

When you transferred files and settings apparently the registry entry for that setting went bad (I'm fairly certain it's a registry item at least)

I'm stuck on my old laptop right now and won't have access to my main machine until morning I could track it for you then, this thing only runs xp though. It appears for some reason your system has decided the default setting is the reverse of what it should be though.

anyhow working from a old ms tech file I found it should be something to the effect of

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\ConnectionsTab

or very close to that.You'll be looking for the autoconfig entry.

 

[Thomas R]

I’m also sure this is a registry setting gone bad – the question is just which.

I searched my registry for that entry you gave but it does not exist on my system

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\ exists but does not contain an Internet Explorer sub-key. So it must be somewhere else.

 

[roncerr]

Even though the setting "check automatically" is not needed based on the other PCs, I don't think IE should "forget" it when you boot up. Have you tried to reset IE: Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Reset.

BTW, installing Windows "Clean" is the right way. But instead of using "easy transfer" it would be better to just save the files and folders you understand (Documents, Favorites, Pictures...) on a usb drive and plug it in to the new PC for drag and drop of the contents of those folders to the new folders by the same name on your new PC. All programs should be reinstalled from scratch, all emails and contacts moved separately or using the respective programs' export/import features, and all accounts, message rules, and any other customizations should be recreated from scratch. (Admittedly, it would be nice if computers were smart enough to make things easy.)

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi,

I've seen this behavior many time before when malware gets onto a machine, the first thing it does is disable internet access via setting a nul proxy.

1st thing you need to do is a full system scan using MalwareBytes and see what reults it turns up.

 

[Thomas R]

I did a full scan with MalwareBytes and it has not found any infections of the system. So it’s not that.

 

[Maguscreed]

Do you match these settings in reg?
(path on bottom in status bar)

 

[Thomas R]

I have 2 entries less and some have different values. But I don't know if those make a difference.
This is how it looks on my system:

 

[Maguscreed]

well there goes that theory I was thinking the winint entry was missing.

 

[Thomas R]

That damn Windows registry is just too big and convoluted to easily find the entry that is causing the problem.
Not that I have much of an idea where to look in the first place ...

I’m not 100% sure but I think this issue started after I set up/configured Dell QuickSet (not after installing it!)
Though I have QuickSet also on my 2 other M6300 laptops and those don’t have this problem.
And before the system re-install it worked fine with the same QuickSet settings.

 

[Maguscreed]

Yeah, sorry if this were xp it would be simple to find, I can't figure out where they've moved the directly corresponding registry entry in win 7 though.

 

[Thomas R]

What / where was it in XP?

 

[Maguscreed]

The first location I pointed you to way up above.

 

[Thomas R]

So I checked HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections
and compared it to one of my other 2 systems and these keys are significantly different.
In the image: left the system with the connection issues - right the comparison system with no issues (both on the same network)
The question now is what happens when I edit, replace (with the one from the other machine) or delete this key?

 

[Maguscreed]

I would force a system restore point before attempting this, we are messing with something outside personal experience here, you want to have a recent full restore point to fall back on in case things go horribly wrong.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html

normally I wouldn't even suggest such a drastic measure, but I've run out of ideals here myself.

 

[Thomas R]

I just renamed the key to "OldDefaultConnectionSettings" and restarted the computer.
Windows just created a new DefaultConnectionSettings key.
Though the problem persists ...

 

[Maguscreed]

Sadly I don't think whatever has gone wrong here is traceable by any means I know.
It seems the others have given up as well.

You may be headed for a reformat of the system to fix this problem.
I would suggest only backing up bookmarks and personal files manually this time, as the transferred import is more than likely the source of the problem.

 

[Thomas R]

Yeah, as far as I can tell EasyTranfer only works properly when used to transfer settings from XP to Windows 7 (at least that worked for me flawlessly on 3 different machines) but so far it failed me every time I tried to transfer profiles between Windows 7 machines ...

When the first transfer went completely bad and I had to scrap the system and re-install Windows 7 and all programs the second time from scratch (with the added inconvenience to call Microsoft for the Windows activation code) I made an image of the new installation before transferring the profile. I guess that was a wise precaution ...

Though I will try a little longer and contact Microsoft before pulling the plug on the current installation.

 

[Maguscreed]

Well one final thing did occur to me, you can remove internet explorer and then reinstall it.
It's in programs and features on the left side add remove windows features.
You can actually uninstall ie and try installing it again without actually reformatting.
Don't know if this will solve your problem but it's the last thing I can come up with.

 

[Thomas R]

I was able to identify the registry key that controls the “Automatically detect settings” check:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\
Sub Key DefaultConnectionSettings

“Automatically detect settings” check not set
0000 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0008 01 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0010 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX

“Automatically detect settings” check set
0000 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0008 09 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0010 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX

By changing that bit I can check or uncheck the setting.

The issue is that after a restart (or log off/log on) the value is reset to “00” (=undefined?)
0000 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0008 00 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
0010 XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX

The question now is what resets this value an why.
Now I need to know how to track what accesses a given registry key. Is there any program that can do this?

BTW: as a test I installed Firefox an it works without being affected by this issue.