IE6 opens blank (empty) windows


You probably have a broken entry in file associations.

Go to my computer, view/folder options/file types (or control panel, folder options depending on your operating system).

Scroll down to the  URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocols, click edit twice and make sure the following is in the application used to perform action box:

"C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\iexplore.exe" -nohome

The same applies for URL:Gopher

DDE should be set to:  "%1",,-1,0,,,,
Application should say:  IExplore
DDE application not running should be blank
Topic should be:    WWW_OpenURL 

Mike Burgess MVP was kind enough to point out to me the other day that 'open in new window' is dependent on the following files, therefore you should ensure they are the correct version for your system, and correctly registered. 

Run the following commands from start/run.  Run each line individually.  After each run, you should see a short message stating the command was successful. The first command is the one most likely to work. 

regsvr32 Urlmon.dll 

regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll 

regsvr32 Shell32.dll (only applicable to Windows ME, Windows 2000 and XP - if using an earlier operating system, run regsvr32 shdoc401.dll) 

  

regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
  

Some people have noted that replacing urlmon.dll or oleaut32.dll with the versions that came with their operating system has helped.  I would not try this except as a last resort. 

Note: If the IE repair tool is available to you (control panel, add/remove programs, highlight IE, select add/remove) - running a repair will often fix the above associations automatically. 

Further note:

I thought installing Mozilla 0.9.2 (which, may I say, is damned SLOW to start up) was quite a polite event, especially considering the fact that I didn't allow it to take over any defaults as part of the install. 

But still, I discovered that hyperlinks in emails weren't working properly anymore - IE was opening, but just to a blank window. No attempt to access the URL was made. 

Somehow or other, WWW_OpenURL disappeared out of 'topic' in the default open action for the URL:Hypertext Transfer protocols and Gopher - nothing else was out of whack - go figure :-/ 

Some knowledge base articles addressing the blank window problem are: 

Browser Window Is Blank After You Install First Aid 98 [Q182038]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q182038 

Current Web Page Is Blank After Opening an Outlook:// URL [Q257136]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q257136