"Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer"

Question

Hi All,

I am getthing this strange issue when trying to open a document library with "Open with Explorer" option.  I am using Win7 with IE9.  First, I get prompted.  If I login, it will work fine until I restart the computer.  This is what I have done some far:

1. I have added the Sharepoint URL to the intranet site zone in IE
2. Follow the suggestions in http://support.microsoft.com/?id=943280 and http://support.microsoft.com/?id=841215
3. Restarted the WebClient services and even reboot

The result is that it work... but for a bried time.  Meaning, I can user the Open with Explorer to browse the library for a short period of time.  If I go away and comeback in a few minutes, I get the annoying "Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer".

I am running out of ideas and need some help. Thanks guys.

 

Answer 1

My first suggestion is to see if you can reproduce this error with the 32-bit version of IE. As per Plan browser support (SharePoint Server 2010), explorer view is not supported in 64-bit versions of Internet Explorer.

Answer 2

Please ensure that you installed following update update on the server: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=15123.

Regards

---

Sasa Tomicic
MCPD: Shpt Dev 2010, MCITP: Shpt Admin 2010, MCPD: Win Dev 4
My blog: Share(d)Point of View

Answer 3

"First, I get prompted. If I login, it will work fine until I restart the computer"

Open up Internet Explorer's security dialog. Click the "Local intranet" icon, then click the Sites button. A new dialog will pop up. Click the "Advanced" button.  Now add your site to the local intranet.

 

Answer 4

Thanks all for the comments.

 

Jason - I am using the 32Bit version of the IE.

Sasa - The update you mentioned is dated in 2007 and is for Windows Server 2003.  I am using Win2K8 R2.

ieDaddy - The proper URLs are already there.

Answer 5

Check if RequestFilteringModule and WebDAVModule are active on IIS for your SharePoint site and if they are active, disable them .

Thanks

---

MCITP|MCTS SharePoint| SharePoint Performance blog

Answer 6

Check this post... issue description looks similar - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/f17e42c3-cc35-45b1-9d40-f9ed7254deb6/.

 

---

Sasa Tomicic
MCPD: Shpt Dev 2010, MCITP: Shpt Admin 2010, MCPD: Win Dev 4
My blog: Share(d)Point of View

Please remember to click 'Mark as Answer' on the post that helps you or click 'Unmark as Answer' if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Answer 7

I will check those out.  In the meantime, I need the "WebClient" services running on the server?  I don't believe so but just want to make sure.

 

Also, I am using kerberos authentication... does that make a difference?

Answer 8

Enabling the webclient feature is if you're trying to access the site from a Server OS.

Answer 9

Hi! Nice to meet you and thanks for contacting TechNet Forums! Just a few questions in order to accomplish your issue:

- This issue appear on one or multiple document libraries?

- How many items are in libraries?

- The issue occurs in one machine? Have you tried with other OS and IE versions?

Keep in touch.

---

Pablo Alejandro Fain
MCP, MCSA, MCTS, MCITP
To follow me on Twitter: @pabloafain
To view my LinkedIn Profile: Click here
This posting is provided AS IS, with no warranties.

Answer 10

Hi Pablo,

Yes I had read thru many of the posts but they did help me.  To answer you questions, it appears to happen in multiple document libraries.  This seems to happen more on the Project 2010 sites.  The number of items in the libraries varies... from 0 to 10s.  It is happening pretty much across multiple user across the same domain.

UPDATE:   SORRY.  I meant it did NOT help me.  So the issue still persist

Answer 11

Please make sure Desktop Experience feature is enabled in windows 7 or windows 2008 R2 Server in order to support the windows explorer view.

There is a good article about explorer view  http://blogs.technet.com/b/manjesh/archive/2010/01/03/all-about-explorer-view-in-sharepoint.aspx

The main protocols that are capable of directly manipulating file data stored in SharePoint are

 

- WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning)

WebDAV is a simple extension to the HTTP protocol based on a public specification. It provides an extended vocabulary that defines how basic file functions, such as copy, move, delete, and create folder, are performed across HTTP.

- FPRPC (FrontPage Server Extensions Remote Procedure Call)

FPRPC provides WebDAV capabilities using extensions to the HTTP vocabulary, but it also has the ability to embed more complex Remote Procedure Call (RPC) communications in the data portion of the packet.

 

Answer 12

Hi,

Thanks for your post.

Since the SharePoint has its own Internal Webdav implementation , the IIS seems to get consfused on which Webdav to use .
So the resolution is delete the Webdav entry in the MODULES Of the IIS .

Are you using a win 2008 server to browse the site? See both http://mossdefinitely.blogspot.com/2010/08/enabling-webdav-in-sharepoint-windows.html and http://blogs.technet.com/b/seanearp/archive/2010/07/08/your-client-does-not-support-opening-this-list-with-windows-explorer.aspx
 
http://blog.vanmeeuwen-online.nl/2009/09/your-client-does-not-support-opening.html

http://sharepoint.neronguyen.com/2011/11/30/your-client-does-not-support-opening-this-list

http://sharepointmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2010/11/your-client-does-not-support-opening.html

http://jakejacobsen.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/your-client-does-not-support-opening-this-list-with-windows-explorer

Hope it helps.

Answer 13

Hi Bogdan,

Those entries are not there.

Answer 14

Hey Prakash,

Thanks for the links.  I went thru the links.  Most of them talk about the same thing... most of which I have tried.

 

Here's what I have found today.  It seems this issues happens mostly when I am in a Microsoft Project site.  Not sure if there are difference on how the explorer works in Project sites vs. a typical Sharepoint site.  As far as I know, the server settings are pretty much the same between proejct server and the intranet site. 

Should I move this to the Project Server forum?

Answer 15

Here's another scenario. I have 2 notebook PC's exact same configuration. Win7 x64 Pro. MOss 2010. Both were working last week with the windows explorer view. this week only one works. Same updates and IE9

Answer 16

The following help resolved it for us:

1. Ensuring the WebClients service starts automatically.
2. Update registry:  HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Paramenters\AuthForwardServerList to include the URL of your sharpoint site.  For me, I added, "http://intranet.mydomain.com".

Hope this works for you.

Answer 17

I found online where the error would occur intermittently with 
SharePoint 2010, however I think the SharePoint version is irrelevant. 
They said the client would sometimes poll for a SharePoint root site 
and the error would occur if there was none. We have not seen the 
error since I created a root site even though we’re only using WSS3. 
Our errors began when we changed clients to Windows 7. So it 
sounds to me like the issue could be from root site polling due to 
an IE8 security change in Windows 7.

Answer 18

I'm having exactly the same problem.

We are using 365 sharepoint and i've mapped several drives locally to a 2008 R2 box so i can run our own backups on them.

Every night the mapped drives will suddenly show diccontect, no errors in the logs and when i try to reopen the libary via IE9 is get "Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer".

If I log out and back in everything is fine again... if i restart the the webClient service and reopen via ie everything is fine again.

But it will not hold on its own. I have tried some scheduled tasks to stop and start the webclient and open the Sharepoint library in ie, but without manual input everyday it will not hold!

Answer 19

I was having the same problem and solved it.

I have a fresh SP Foundation 2010 installation on a Win 2008R2 and got the same error "Your client does not...", then after reading through most of your comments, I decided to start with the smallest change and installed the Desktop Experience (DE) feature on the Win2008R2 server; which is the same where SharePoint Foundation 2010 is installed and from where I'm launching IE9 to browse to the Document Libraries. So after installing the DE and restarting the server, the "Open with Explorer" is working as it should, I have been testing this functionality randomly throughout the last day, and it seems stable so far.

It might not be of much help for those with more complex scenarios but I just wanted to share my experience with those who might been experiencing similar behaviors with new SharePoint installations.

Thanks to all of you who have posted something here!

Answer 20

I was having the same issues and this is what I did to fix. I have Windows 7 x64 with IE9. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841215

Go down to Windows Vista Section of the KB.

1.Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.
2.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters

3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4.Type BasicAuthLevel, and then press Enter.
5.On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6.In the Value data box, type 2, and then click OK.

Restart webclient service.

Answer 21

I am using IE10 with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.  I used to be able to open doc Libraries in explorer and now I suddenly can't.  What makes it even weirder is that my laptop can't open the libraries, but my desktop can, and they both seem to be using the exact same versions of IE and Windows"

IE 10.0.9200.16521 on both.  The only difference is that the desktop is Windows 7 Home Premium, but still 64bit.

I've tried lots of the fixes in these threads and nothing seems to work.  I need this feature, so I'm at my wits' end.  SharePoint is Server 2007, but I have no control over the server side.  It just tee's me off that this is so intermittent.