Windows – Internet Explorer / Windows 7 does not want to show HTML file from local network drive

internet explorerwindows 7

Setup: I have Windows 7 running inside VirtualBox on Mac OS X host. I have a shared drive with some HTML files, that I am mounting as a local drive W: in Windows, from the VirtualBox server \VBOXSVR. I want to look at them with a browser in Windows.

Chrome in Windows 7 opens and shows those HTML files just fine (file:///W:/welcome.html). But Internet Explorer does not, and shows this error instead of the files:

Internet Explorer cannot display the web page

What you can try: [button Diagnose Connection Problems]

More information

This problem can be caused by a variety of issues, including:

  • Internet connectivity has been lost.
  • The website is temporarily unavailable.
  • The Domain Name Server (DNS) is not reachable.
  • The Domain Name Server (DNS) does not have a listing for the website's domain.
  • If this is an HTTPS (secure) address, click Tools, click Internet Options, click Advanced, and check to be sure the SSL and TLS protocols are enabled under the security section.

For the internet zone in the status bar, it shows:

Internet | Protected Mode: On

IE settings are a mystery to me, and I could possibly get it to work by tweaking IE settings, but I don't know which ones.

How do I make IE show the same files that Chrome is happy to show? (Chrome showing them means that the files themselves are fine, there is something about the setup that just makes IE be a diva.)

Best Answer

If you can modify the file, you can try tricking IE with MOTW to put it in the Internet Zone, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537628(v=vs.85).aspx.

Basically add this line to the beginning of the HTML file:

<!-- saved from url=(0014)about:internet -->

You could also try forcing it into Intranet Zone but that depends on whether you have protected mode on or not for that zone. This would get you Intranet Zone:

<!-- saved from url=(0016)http://localhost -->

Be sure the file is saved with Windows line breaks (CR+LF). If you have Text Wrangler you can specify windows line breaks when you save the file.

Finally, another way to use MOTW would require using NTFS Alternate Data Streams (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4496697/what-is-zone-identifier). Basically, go to the windows command prompt and type

notepad W:\Welcome.html:Zone.Identifier

In the text file put the following:

[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=2

For any of these methods you'll need to completely close IE and reopen for MOTW to behave properly.

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