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BUG #: 118145 (Content Maintenance)BUG #: 332758 (SQLBUVSTS)

Symptoms

When you visit a Web site or run an application that loads XHTML documents by using Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML), MSXML will send requests to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to fetch well-known Document Type Definition (DTD) files every time. This behavior may bring lots of traffic to the W3C server. Sometimes, you may find the XHTML files are not loaded successfully because the DTD requests are blocked by the W3C server.


For example, you have a JavaScript file (.js) that contains the following code:

function pullXHtml() {
var xml = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0");
xml.async = false;
xml.loadXML(
"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN\" \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd\">" +
"<html xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' xml:lang='en' lang='en'><head><title>simple document</title></head>" +
"<body><p>a simple paragraph</p></body></html>");
if (xml.parseError.errorCode != 0) {
var myErr = xml.parseError;
WScript.Echo("ERROR:" + myErr.reason);
} else {
WScript.echo("The XHTML document was loaded successfully.");
}
}

pullXHtml();

When you run the JavaScript file, the file loads an XHTML document by using MSXML. If you do not have this update installed, you may receive the following error message when you run the JavaScript file if the DTD requests are blocked by the W3C server:

ERROR: The server did not understand the request, or the request was invalid.
Error processing resource
'http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd'.

After you install this update, the JavaScript file will run successfully and you will receive the following message:

The XHTML document was loaded successfully.Note

  • After you apply this update, MSXML caches the DTD files locally to reduce the number of requests that are sent to the W3C server.

  • After you install this update, you may be prompted to restart your computer.

  • If you install the update in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or in Windows 7, you must run the setup file as an administrator.

  • For more information about XHTML and the Document Type Definitions (DTD), see the "More information" section.

Resolution

Update information

How to determine the MSXML version

To determine the MSXML version that is installed on your computer, follow these steps:

  1. Locate the Msxml4.dll file in the following directory:
    C:\Windows\System32

  2. Right-click the Msxml4.dll file, and then click Properties.

  3. Click the Version tab to see the version information.
    Note In Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008, click the Details tab instead.

How to obtain this update

This update will be installed automatically by Windows Update. However, you can also install this update manually by downloading the appropriate package. There are several packages that contain this fix. Those packages were released for the following different installation scenarios:

KB articles

Installation scenarios

Update packages

MSXML versions

Supported operating systems

973688 Description of an update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2
 

MSXML 4.0 was installed by an application, or manually installed by yourself. To apply this hotfix, you must have MSXML 4.0 SP2 installed.

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 4.0 SP2

Windows 7; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2; Windows Vista; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows Vista Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack

973686 Description of an update for Microsoft MSXML Core Services 6.0 Service Pack 2
 

MSXML 6.0 was installed by an application, or manually installed by yourself. To apply this hotfix, you must have MSXML 6.0 SP2 installed.

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 6.0 SP2

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 2

973685 Description of an update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 3
 

MSXML 4.0 was installed by an application, or manually installed by yourself. To apply this hotfix, you must have MSXML 4.0 SP3 installed.

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 4.0 SP3

Windows 7; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2; Windows Vista; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows Vista Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 3

973687 Description of updates for Microsoft MSXML Core Services 3.0 and MSXML Core Services 6.0
 

MSXML3 and MSXML6 were installed by the operating system

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows XP SP3

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0

Windows Server 2003 SP2

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64 Edition

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for Itanium-based Systems

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows Vista, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Vista SP2

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows Vista 64-bit Editions, Windows Vista 64-bit Editions SP1 and Windows Vista SP2

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 SP2

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition and Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition SP2

Download Download the update package now.

MSXML 3.0 and MSXML 6.0

Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems SP2


For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

File information

The English version of this update has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows XP, of Windows Server 2003, of Windows Vista, of Windows Server 2008, of Windows Server 2008 R2, and of Windows 7

File name

File version

File size

Date

Time

Msxml4.dll

4.20.9876.0

1,348,432

20-Jul-2009

16:05

Msxml4a.dll

4.10.9404.0

53,768

20-Jul-2009

16:05

Msxml4r.dll

4.10.9404.0

91,656

20-Jul-2009

16:05

More Information

For more information about Document Type Definitions, visit the following Web site:

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/dtds.htmlFor more information about XHTML, visit the following Web site:

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/For more information about MSXML, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms763742(VS.85).aspx For more information about the list of Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) versions, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

269238 List of Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) versions


References

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

954459 MS08-069: Description of the security update for XML Core Services 6.0: November 11, 2008


For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684
Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

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