How to find more information about why code download failed

When an ActiveX control or an ActiveX document fails to download, Microsoft Internet Explorer does not always display or indicate the reason for the download failure.

This article demonstrates how to acquire information about download failures by looking at the Code Download Log file generated in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

When an ActiveX control or an ActiveX document fails to download in Internet Explorer, a log is generated to display detailed information about the error. Developers might not be aware of this log or of how to view it.

The following are two methods to view this information:

• Use a tool provided by Microsoft called Code Download Error Log Viewer to display the error information.
• Display the error information in Internet Explorer directly.

The following paragraphs provide more details for each method.

Using the Code Download Log Viewer tool

1. Download the Code Download Log Viewer file from the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/samples/internet/browsertools/cdllogvw/default.asp (http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/samples/internet/browsertools/cdllogvw/default.asp)
2. Start the Code Download Log Viewer tool if it is not already running.
3. After the installation of the tool, navigate to your Web page that contains the ActiveX component.
4. If the component fails to install, go to the Code Download Error Log Viewer tool and click Refresh.
5. Double-click the ClassID that corresponds to your component.
6. This opens the Error Log in the Internet Explorer and displays detailed information about the download failure.

Display error information directly in Internet Explorer

1. Navigate to your Web page that contains the ActiveX component.
2. After the component has failed, open the Internet Options dialog box.
   
   Note For Internet Explorer 4, the Internet Options dialog box is under the View/Internet Options menu. For Internet Explorer 5, the Internet Options dialog box is under the Tools/Internet Options menu.
3. Go to the General tab under the Internet Options dialog box, and click Settings under the "Temporary Internet files" section.
4. Click View Files under the Settings dialog box.
5. An Explorer Window appears pointing to the folder containing all the temporary internet files.
6. Sort all the files, ascending by name, and note one or more files that start with
   "?CodeDownloadErrorLog!."
7. Every time an ActiveX component fails to download, a similar log is generated. (Do not be surprised if you have many ?CodeDownloadErrorLog!* on your log).
8. Go to the file that has the ClassID of your object specified in the error log file name. Verify the modified date and find out the correct log that was just created.
9. Leave this window open and click Cancel on both the Settings dialog box and the Internet Options dialog box.
10. Drag the log file and drop it to the Internet Explorer window.
11. If you are unable to drop the file on Internet Explorer, then go back and make sure that you closed all the pop-up dialog boxes. Then open another Internet Explorer window and drop the file on it.

For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:For more information, see the following Webcast: