Internet Explorer Starts in Offline Mode and Remains Offline

• Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

Every time you start Internet Explorer, it may be started in Work Offline mode, and may remain offline when you click Work Offline on the File menu to remove the check mark.

CAUSE

This issue can occur if the GlobalUserOffline DWORD value is not changed from 1 to 0 when you click the Work Offline command to remove the check mark.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To work around this issue, set the GlobalUserOffline DWORD value to the value 0 in the following registry key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\
      Internet Settings

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Keywords          : kbenv msient
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb