What should I do if Internet Explorer cannot be used to access external websites in a Windows instance?

Problem Description

In a Windows instance, you cannot use the Internet Explorer browser that comes with the operating system to access external websites.

Problem Causes

If Internet Explorer cannot be used to access external websites in a Windows instance, it may be caused by the following reasons:

• The ECS instance is not configured with a public IP address

• Local network and DNS resolution issues

• Problems with browser configuration used

• Network setting issues such as IP address security policies

Solution

You can troubleshoot step by step through the following steps to solve the above problems.

Note The following steps take the 64-bit Chinese version of Windows Server 2019 Data Center Edition as an example, and the actual operation depends on your actual Windows instance operating system.

Step 1: Check the public IP of the ECS instance

1. View the network information of the ECS instance.

• If the ECS instance has been configured with a public IP address, you need to proceed to Step 2: Check related network settings.

• If the ECS instance is not configured with a public IP address, you need to go to the next step.

2. Choose one of the following methods to configure a public IP address for the ECS instance.

• method one:

Apply for an EIP and bind it to an ECS instance.

• Method Two:

Obtain a fixed public network IP by upgrading the public network bandwidth configuration.

• Method three:

Access the Internet through the public network NAT gateway.

Step 2: Check network-related settings

Troubleshoot the local network

1. Obtain the public IP address of the local host.

a. In the lower left corner of the desktop, click the Search icon icon.

b. Enter cmd, and click Command Prompt in the pop-up panel. Open 2019 Command Prompt

c. At the command prompt, execute the curl cip.cc command.

• If the public network IP information of the local host is obtained in the echo, as shown in the figure, the local host network is normal, and there is no need to troubleshoot DNS resolution problems. Continue to Step 3: Check the Internet Explorer browser and Step 4: Check the IP security policy and other network restrictions. The local network is normal

• If the public network IP information of the local host cannot be obtained in the echo, as shown in the figure, proceed to the next step to check the network configuration of the local host. Native network exception -xin

2. Check the localhost network configuration.

a. In the lower left corner of the desktop, click the Search icon icon.

b. Type Control Panel, and click Control Panel in the pop-up panel.

c. In Control Panel, select Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center, and click Ethernet. Network and Sharing Center

d. In the Ethernet Status panel, click Details and check if DHCP is enabled. ethernet status

e. In the Ethernet Status pane, click Properties, then select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Properties and select Obtain an IP address automatically. Tick Obtain an IP address automatically

Check DNS resolution

1. Log in to the ECS instance remotely.

2. In the lower left corner of the desktop, click the Search icon icon.

3. Enter cmd, and click Command Prompt in the pop-up panel. Open 2019 Command Prompt

4. In the CMD command prompt, execute the ping external website domain name command to check whether the DNS resolution is normal.

Take the external website domain name www.aliyun.com as an example, execute the ping www.aliyun.com command.

If the IP address corresponding to the domain name is resolved in the command echo, as shown in the figure, it means that the DNS resolution is normal, and you need to proceed to Step 3: Check the Internet Explorer browser. DNS domain name resolution is normal

If the IP address corresponding to the domain name is not resolved in the command output, it indicates that the DNS resolution is abnormal. At this point, you need to perform the next step to handle DNS exceptions.

5. Handle DNS exceptions.

a. In the lower left corner of the desktop, click the Search icon icon.

b. Type ncpa.cpl, and click ncpa.cpl in the pop-up panel.

c. On the Network Connections page, right-click the corresponding network card, and then click Properties. Internet connection

d. On the Ethernet Properties page, double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Ethernet properties

e. Choose to use the following DNS server addresses, and fill in the Alibaba Cloud public DNS addresses 223.5.5.5 and 223.6.6.6 in the preferred DNS server and backup DNS server respectively.

Note You can also fill in the IP addresses of other public DNS servers.

Fill in the DNS address

f. Click OK, and then close the configuration windows one by one.

6. Use the Internet Explorer browser again to access the external website.

If the external website is accessed normally, the problem has been resolved.

If you still cannot access external websites, you need to proceed to Step 3: Check the Internet Explorer browser.

Step 3: Check the Internet Explorer browser

If the DNS resolution is normal but the website cannot be accessed using the Internet Explorer browser that comes with the system, it may be caused by the configuration or compatibility of the Internet Explorer browser. You can try to use Chrome, Firefox or other browsers for access comparison testing . If you can access the website normally with other browsers, you need to repair the Internet Explorer browser by resetting the Internet Explorer browser.

The steps to reset the Internet Explorer browser are as follows:

1. Log in to the ECS instance remotely.

2. Open the Internet Explorer browser.

3. In the upper right corner of the Internet Explorer browser, click the IE Settings button icon, and then click Internet Options.

4. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset. reset IE

5. In the prompt box, click Reset.

Step 4: Check network restrictions such as IP security policies

If you still cannot access the website after the above steps are checked. Then you need to check whether the IP security policy related to the external website or other third-party network management software is configured on the Windows operating system to block DNS resolution or add restrictions on access to the external website. The operation steps are as follows:

1. Log in to the ECS instance remotely.

2. In the lower left corner of the desktop, click the Search icon icon.

3. Type secpol.msc and click secpol.msc in the pop-up panel.

4. On the Local Security Policy page, click IP Security Policy, and check whether a security policy is configured and assigned on the local computer. If there is a related IP security policy, you need to suspend the assignment of the policy. assignment strategy

5. Use the Internet Explorer browser again to access the external website.

If the external website is accessed normally, the problem has been resolved.

If you still cannot access external websites, do the following:

Check whether there are other network security-related software that have been blocked or restricted. If so, revisit the website after lifting the restriction.

Check whether the Time_Wait connection in the Windows instance has been released. If it has not been released, access to external websites will fail. You need to continue to deal with this problem. For details, see ECS Instance Time_Wait Connection Not Released in Windows System Fails to Access the External Network.