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HermanssonFlag for Sweden

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can't open or download .xls files from website

Hi!

I have the exact same question as another user posted some time ago.
Suddenly I can't download xls or doc files from outside the internet. pdf or zip and other formats works fine and surfing to the site works nice.
From inside our organization and from within the same subnet it works to download xls and doc. No clues in the firewall, all seems to be working as it should.
I have IIS6 on a windows 2003 r2 x64 server.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26366635/can't-open-or-download-xls-files-from-website.html
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Iradat Siddiqui
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Check that IIS 6 has been loaded on the machine that has the Excel source file, and compare  your IS settings against the required settings in this link.
         http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/502ef631-3695-4616-b268-cbe7cf1351ce.mspx?mfr=true
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I have not changed any parameters in the IIS website and we dont use HTTP Compression.
Any other ideas?
I just tried ppt and that format doesnt work either.
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Rich Weissler

Coreybryant beat me to it... I was going to suggest making certain the IIS server MIME settings for xls and ppt haven't disappeared.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326965
Hi!

I have now confirmed that the MIME settings for all thoose files exists.

.doc application/msword
.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
.xls application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
In that case, I'd look carefully for a firewall, or other stateful network filtering appliance which is 'protecting' networks against office document transfers.  It could be an appliance which has been in place for a while, but may have recently been updated or received updated signatures.
Ok.
The thing is that it works from the inside through our ISA server and it works from the same subnet as the webserver (dmz).
Our firewall does not have any other functions than standard firewall functionality and when I look at the logs nothing stranges comes up, it just forwards the traffic.
Surfing to the site goes smoothly and we can download pdf and zip files correctly.
Do you have an example of what works and what does not work?

If you cannot give that out, can you try it when you get home - just to confirm it is not the site.

What happens if you right click on the doc and say download?

Can you disable the firewall for a minute to make sure it is not the firewall?

And is it all computers, a couple, or yours?
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Rich Weissler

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Here is an example with a webpage that has several xls files:
http://www.skogsstyrelsen.se/Myndigheten/Statistik/Amnesomraden/Priser/Tabeller--figurer/

Rightclicking and download gives the same result. It hangs on 1% or 97% or something between.

Disabling the firewall is not an option for me because I have dns and other functions in there.

It is a variety of users outside our organization that has reported the problem. I have tried with my own laptop from the outside and it is the same thing.
No changes in our network has been made recently.
I agree that the ISP seems suspect.
We dont use our ISA server to our outside, it is just a firewall.
I am trying the first one to see what happens.  36kb should be done within 5-10 seconds.  It is stuck at 46%.

OK - the zip file 32kb downloaded
I don't know if it is the name or what, but on the first one, I said save as 1960-2000.xls and got to 72% instead of 46%,
Ok, I just opened a case at my ISP and asked if other customers had the same issue but it was nothing they knew about.
If you look at the source code, he has his email address in there.
If you search for pdf and takes the first one who comes up it is on 2mb and I just tried to download it from an external computer and it works fine so I guess its not something about file size.
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.skogsstyrelsen.se

That 1960-2009 says it is going to take 8 hours.

Did the ZIP files work?
Ok. Yeah no problems
I have to catch a bus but I check for updates later.

Regards!
Johnny
The XLS files could just be corrupted.  The 1995 is at 72%, stops, I hit resume and it is back at 18%
No worries, I know how all that can go   I tried on 4 browsers just in case
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One I just recently ran into is that an xls file can be an html file in reality.

If you can download the file instead of trying to open it, then change the extension to HTM and see what happens when you try to open it. If it opens looking like a spreadsheet, that is probably your issue.

BTW I didn't see what version of Excel and Word, but I skimmed by.
Hi!

Thanks for all comments.

Corey:
Ping is disabled.
I will forward the traceroute to them, thanks!

Gonzo:
You mean disable http and just use https or just make a particular file to download through https?
We have antivirus to scan files in the webserver but there is no exceptions or differences between pdf, zip, doc or xls

Jimpen:
It cant be html files because it works from the inside to download the same files as xls and when I open them they are ok.
Don't disable http - just use HTTPS to download a file. You need to have it properly enabled on IIS, though.
You might want to consider enabling ping for this (at least thru this).  The more information you have for all involved, the better.

Everyone always likes to blame someone else and the more prrof you have it is not that, the better
Hi! The problem is gone today. My ISP says they didnt do any change but I wonder if they did anyway.

Thanks for your help of getting me thru this!

Best regards
Johnny