JSI Tip 5113. Incorrect Dcomcnfg.exe permissions can cause strange IE, OE, and Office Assistant behavior?

The symptoms of having incorrect Dcomcnfg.exe permissions include:

When you press a hyperlink on a Web page that should open a new window, nothing happens.

When you right-click a hyperlink and press Open in New Window, nothing happens.

When you try to use a hyperlink in Outlook or Outlook Express, nothing happens.

When you try to drag-and-drop, the unavailable cursor is displayed (Circle with slash).

Find (on This Page) in Internet Explorer doesn't work, or works only once.

Search / For Files or Folders doesn't work.

Search / On the Internet doesn't work.

Microsoft Office Assistant won't start and you receive: Problem occurred using Office Assistant, Do you want to reinstall it?

When you drag-and-drop a file from Outlook 2000 to a folder, you receive: Cannot create another system semaphore.

You are unable to print from Internet Explorer.

You are unable to print HTML messages from Outlook.

To fix these problems:

1. Start / Run / Dcomcnfg.exe / OK.

2. For Windows 2000, go to step 6.

3. Expand Component Services.

4. Expand Computers.

5. Right-click My Computer and press Properties.

6. Select the Default Security or Default COM Security tab.

7. In the Default Access Permissions area, press Edit Default.

8. If either System or Interactive is NOT listed with Allow Access, press Add to add them:

        Select the local computer name in the List Names From drop-down box.

        Select Allow Access in the Type of Access drop-down box.

        Select the missing account and press Add.

        Press OK, OK, Apply, and OK.

9. Log off and log on.

NOTE: If the list of Access permissions is empty, both System and Interactive have implicitpermissions. When you add an account, implicit rights no longer apply, as they did in Windows NT 4.0.

NOTE: If you installed the Office 2000 SR-1 Update and you experience similar problems, download and apply the o9regfix.exe fix.