Some users cannot browse using Internet Explorer 11 on some computers, but other users on same machine can

4

Issue

I've experienced an issue on few PCs (Windows 7 SP1) where specific users are unable to browse external websites but can browse internal via IE 11 (all other browsers work). If another user logs onto the same PC, they can browse both internal and external via IE 11 (vice versa if this user logs into another PC, IE 11 works).

I've seen this occur for around 10 different accounts across completely different PCs.

Things tried which didn't work:

  1. Placed a PC experiencing this issue into an OU with block inheritance (therefore no GPOs apply) and removed all previously applied GPOs from that PC.
  2. Completely removed IE 11 (including registry keys), reinstalled.
  3. Recreated local and roaming profiles for affected users.
  4. Rebuilding (re-applying the OS) the PC has worked for some but hasn't worked for others.
  5. Disabled all add ons and completely reset IE settings

Things tried which get IE 11 working but are NOT a viable solution

  1. If the user having an issue runs IE 11 as an administrator, IE 11 works.
  2. If UAC is disabled, IE 11 works.
  3. If you downgrade from IE 11 to either IE 10 or 9, IE works.
  4. We use a WPAD, if this is bypassed (so connecting directly to the proxy), IE 11 allows external browsing.

The issue appears as though IE 11 is not "detecting" the WPAD. (Please note the same setup is on every PC and no errors or useful information appears to be logged in event viewer.

Any help or advice on how I can proceed with this issue? I've done the standard IT thing and googled the issue, even though others have reported this, there are no results...

Joe S

Posted 2015-11-24T20:11:50.463

Reputation: 570

3What do you refer to by "works"? Does IE11 fail to start? Also, do those specific users have any special characters in their names or in a specific group? – oldmud0 – 2015-12-04T23:31:00.050

1Likewise: what does "cannot browse" mean? And if User 1 cannot browse on Machine A, and User 2 not on Machine B, can User 1 then still browse on Machine B and User 2 on Machine A? – Arjan – 2015-12-05T00:44:14.927

1And: nothing in the event logs? – Arjan – 2015-12-05T00:49:54.347

1when did this start happening? Has it been a problem since IE 11 released or did it start at some point after? – Supercereal – 2015-12-05T00:52:30.677

@oldmud0 IE 11 launches fine and can browse internal sites. It just fails to load external websites. If user 1 has the issue on PC 1 (where they cannot browse external sites but internal work), they won't have the issue on PC 2 (therefore user B can browse on both machines). – Joe S – 2015-12-05T08:06:06.000

@Arjan Unfortunately not, since IE 11 successfully launches and just states unable to load webpage for any external site, nothing useful is logged. If user 1 logs into PC 1, they have the issue. If they log onto any other machine, IE works fine. If user 2 logs onto any PC, it's fine. If user 3 logs into PC 3, they have the issue but not on any other PC. – Joe S – 2015-12-05T08:08:45.993

@Kyle We've only recently started deploying/upgrading to 11, it's been installed on 20,000+ machines fine but only around 20 have this issue. It appears as though IE 11 doesn't pickup our proxy/WPAD settings. – Joe S – 2015-12-05T08:09:44.473

@Ramhound I have, this was one of the first things tried. – Joe S – 2015-12-05T08:10:18.197

@oldmud0 Also, there are no characters within their names or any difference between group or even OU membership. – Joe S – 2015-12-05T08:15:35.073

So it's only about external browsing? (Please add the answers to the comments to the question and its title.) – Arjan – 2015-12-05T09:56:37.433

@Arjan Correct and it's been updated by others already. – Joe S – 2015-12-05T15:55:15.413

I guess a script to disable UAC when Internet Explorer is on could work. – RookieTEC9 – 2015-12-05T22:36:39.957

@RookieTEC9 Unfortunately since it's only occurring on 20 machines out of around 30,000 this wouldn't be the best solution... – Joe S – 2015-12-06T09:24:57.083

@Joe S Oh. Are you on an enterprise network? [How did you get these #s?] – RookieTEC9 – 2015-12-07T00:43:41.243

It looks like it could be a network permissions issue. Since it is an enterprise network the users for some reason could not have the permissions to access the network. – Aiden Grossman – 2015-12-09T04:11:55.040

@AidenGrossman But they're able to browse via Chrome and if they use another PC on the same network, they can browse externally via IE. It is a weird issue which I honestly can't see a good resolution to. I may raise a case with Microsoft... – Joe S – 2015-12-09T06:44:28.973

Thanks for all the ideas guys, unfortunately nothing has helped resolve this yet. I've raised a case with Microsoft and will post the answer once I find one. – Joe S – 2015-12-27T19:06:41.227

Answers

0

Solution

After further investigation, we had noticed the value of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Cache was set to C:\temp\Temporary Internet Files rather than %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files.

This registry value was being set via some of our logon scripts which I've since amended/removed.

Why would this prevent external browsing?

Very good question! When Microsoft introduced IE 11, they also amended the requirements for the cache. IE 11 must store the cache within the users profile rather than a shared directory (i.e. C:\Temp\Temporary Internet Files). If the cache is set to a shared location, IE will not allow any external browsing.

Joe S

Posted 2015-11-24T20:11:50.463

Reputation: 570

You should quote the requirements from Microsoft and ideally provide the resource that says that. – Ramhound – 2016-01-26T18:02:27.397

@Ramhound I would however Microsoft don't provide a decent requirements or state this anywhere that I found... I was provided this information directly from Microsoft Support. – Joe S – 2016-01-27T14:29:40.223

Asked: 2015-11-24T20:11:50.463

Viewed: 1 812 times

Active: 2016-01-26T17:55:23.137