IE11 unable to open Windows UNC file path? [closed]

Question

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

We don’t allow questions about general computing hardware and software on Stack Overflow. You can edit the question so it’s on-topic for Stack Overflow.

Closed 8 years ago.

Improve this question

Our intranet currently uses UNC paths to open documents for editing, rather than downloading/editing/reuploading.

The paths are in the format of \x.x.x.x\share\path\to\file\file.pdf

After having updated to Windows 8.1, and being given IE11, it no longer seems capable of opening these links, and simply says Page cannot be displayed. Make sure web address is correct, refresh etc.

Does anyone know if this functionality was removed in IE11?

Answer 1

Access to file shares was limited in IE9.0.2: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ieinternals/archive/2011/08/12/internet-explorer-9.0.2-update-changes-file-protocol-and-cookie-naming.aspx

...but if this is new behavior you're only seeing on Win8.1, you're likely hitting a problem whereby the target URLs are treated as "Internet Zone" and thus inside Enhanced Protected Mode (EPM).

EPM imposes network access restrictions and restrictions on release of your credentials. See the "Networking" sections here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ieinternals/archive/2012/03/23/understanding-ie10-enhanced-protected-mode-network-security-addons-cookies-metro-desktop.aspx

The fix would be to ensure that the syntax you're using to access these file shares is recognized as "Intranet" or "Trusted" zone, which you can do by either using an undotted short hostname (\sharename\share\whatever) or by updating Tools > Internet Options > Security zone settings for the target IPs.