Internet Explorer may lose its Favorites menu intermittently on a Windows 2000-based computer or a Windows XP-based computer

Microsoft Internet Explorer may lose its Favorites menu intermittently on a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer. This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

• The computer is running Internet Explorer 6.
• You use a network shared folder as the Internet Explorer Favorites folder.
• You configure this network shared folder as Offline Available.
• You add a file to the Favorites folder during a period when the network is unavailable. This step modifies the Offline File cache.

When this problem occurs, the registry subkey for the Favorites menu resets to point to the %windir%\Favorites folder.

Note The Favorites menu uses the following registry subkey:

This problem occurs because the Client-Side Cache (CSC) Offline Sync Manager denies access to the shared folder when the network is unavailable. When the CSC Offline Sync Manager denies access, it synchronizes the folder content in the local cache from the server.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To work around this problem, reset the Favorites folder. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Restore the computer network connection.
2. Close Internet Explorer 6.
3. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
5. Right-click Favorites, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type %USERPROFILE%\Favorites, and then click OK.
7. Restart Internet Explorer 6.

Note If you use a logon script to configure the Favorites folder, you can log off the system, and then log back on to resolve the problem.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

The CSC Offline Sync Manager denies access to a shared folder when this shared folder is synchronizing with a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003
• Microsoft Window Server 2003 R2

The location of the Favorites folder changes to %windir%\Favorites on a Windows 2000-based computer or on a Windows XP-based computer. Other operating systems do not change the Favorites folder.

For more information about the Internet Explorer 6, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Configure Internet Explorer to use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) network shared folder as the Favorites folder.
2. Configure the UNC network shared folder as Offline File. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate the UNC network shared folder.
   2. Click Tools, and then click Folder Options.
   3. Click the Offline Files tab, and then make sure that the following options are selected:
      • Enable Offline Files
      • Synchronize all offline files when logging on
      • Synchronize all offline files
3. Add a Web page to the Favorites folder.
4. Log off, and then disconnect from the network.
5. Use cached credentials to log on to the system.
6. Access the UNC network shared folder, and then put at least 10 megabytes (MB) of data in the shared folder.
7. Log off, and then restore the network connection.
8. Log on, and then wait for the CSC Offline Sync Manager to finish synchronizing data.
9. Click Favorites to verify that the content has changed.
10. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
11. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
    The registry subkey points to the %windir%\Favorites folder.