POST from Within Microsoft Excel/Microsoft Word Macro Does Not Work Reliably

ID: Q236020

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to POST from within Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word using a macro, POST requests that should appear in a new browser window may not work.

CAUSE

If the "Check for newer versions of stored pages" cache setting is set to "At every visit to the page" in Internet Explorer, Wininet.dll causes an entry to expire too early. Wininet.dll may also occasionally cause the entry to expire if the "Every time you start Internet Explorer" cache setting is enabled.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but it has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Internet Explorer service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Version	Size	File name	Platform
4.72.3707.600	388,832	Wininet.dll	x86

New registry settings have been added for this fix.

For Internet Explorer 4.01:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
REG_DWORD: SessionStartTimeDefaultDeltaSecs

For Internet Explorer 5:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache
REG_DWORD: SessionStartTimeDefaultDeltaSecs

If this value is not set, or is set to 0, Internet Explorer behaves as it does without the fix.

Setting this value to 2 forces the correct thread to win the race condition. Installing this hotfix sets this value to 2.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbprg msiew95 msient
Version : WINDOWS:4.01,4.01 Service Pack 1,4.01 Service Pack 2,5
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb