Troubleshooting: Prevent "Locate Link Browser" Popup Dialog when Clicking on Links in Outlook
This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore, a technology enthusiast and lead blogger for Online-Tech-Tips.
If you’re using Firefox as your default Internet browser and Outlook as your email client, then you may have noticed that when you click on a URL link in an Outlook email, you get a popup dialog box titled “Locate Link Browser” and then Firefox will load normally. It doesn’t seem to cause any problems, but it’s certainly very annoying having to close that dialog box every time!
Note: You will not get this dialog box if you already have Firefox open on your computer. It only occurs when you click on a link and Firefox is not already open. Also, if you’re using IE, you won’t have this issue at all.
So how you can get rid of this annoying dialog once and for all? Follow these simple steps to fix the issue on Windows XP:
Step 1: Open My Computer from the desktop or Start Menu.
Step 2: Go to the Tools menu and click on Folder Options.
Step 3: Now click on the File Types tab and you’ll see a list of registered file types, Extensions and File Types. Under the Extensions column, look for the entries with (NONE) and in that subset, find the entry under File Types that is called URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol.
Step 4: Click on the Advanced button at the bottom and then click on the Edit button.
Step 5: Go ahead and uncheck the DDE option. It is called “Use DDE” and it’s checked by default. We want to make sure it’s unchecked.
Go ahead and click Ok and then Ok again and then close! Now give it a shot and it should work! You can also do the same for this entry: URL: HyperText with Security. This is for HTTPS links. Worked like a charm on my computer!
Note that if the textbox “Application used to perform action” is blank, then you can click Browse and find the Firefox.exe application.
If you’re using Windows Vista, the method above may not work. In Vista, you have to delete some registry keys in order for the dialog box to go away. Here’s how.
Step 1: Click on Start, then Run and type in regedit. Or just type in regedit in the Instant Search Box and press Enter.
Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTP\shell\open\ddeexec registry key.
Step 3: Delete the “ddexec” registry key
Step 4: Repeat for the following keys:
“HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTPS\shell\open\ddeexec”
“HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\shell\open\ddeexec”
“HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\ddeexec”
This should fix the issue in both Windows XP and Windows Vista! Enjoy!
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when I uncheck the dde box – if I go back and open it again it has rechecked itself
Same issue as reported by hummingbird (using XP SP 3).
Thank you!! Such a simple solution. I thought I had a virus.
Easy fix for a problem that developed when I upgraded to the latest Firefox (3.0.1). Thank you!
In retrospect, I’m not sure if it was the Firefox upgrade or the XP SP 3 upgrade. Regardless, this fix worked for me, and MS support had indicated the fix was to identify IE in those locations. Thanks again.
This worked for me. I had to switch my internet browser after I uninstalled Flock. Thank you!
XP SP3 – what if you don’t have “URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol” as an option to choose from in the long list of File Types?
I use IE (tried using version 8, hated it, so re-downloaded 7.) Somewhere in the process soemthing happened because I am getting the Locate Link Browser box almost everytime I click on an outlook link and the second time I click after closing the box it works.
Also, using IE7, it has become standard that I have to launch the browser twice everytime to get it to open.
Any thoughts on either issue?
Thanks.
I have already tred the my computer solution for the link browser issue and it did not stop it. I also removed IE and re-downloaded IE7 to no avail.
When Locate Link Browser is opened.
Using the side navigation Key locate Firefox or IE exe file and click on ok.
This originally was a great fix for me in Vista pre SP1 but now every time I go thru the procedure of deletions they must just regenerate. Would love an update about how to decimate the little critters for good & leave me free of stupid error messages all the time!
I have done what the above instructions indicate, but when I try and click on a link within an email, I no longer get the ‘Load Link Browser’ window but rather, a whole new session of Firefox opens… and my link never opens.
This has really helped me. My IE session is now working directly by clicking the link in the email message.