How to Fix “Internet Explorer Cannot Open the Internet Site- Operation Aborted” Error

This error shows up when the page loads (or tries to load). There are many scenarios that can cause this error which occurs in IE. Microsoft has even issued a patch for solving it.

This error is being caused by calling a piece of Javascript within a page (after the tag). Adding the defer=”defer” tag to the script quickly resolves the issue.

<script defer="defer" type="text/javascript" src="src goes here">/*code goes here*/</script>

Hope this helps someone! :)

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42 Responses to “How to Fix “Internet Explorer Cannot Open the Internet Site- Operation Aborted” Error”

  1. Nichol

    I’m seeing this fix everywhere. Where do I add this to? This error is frustrating me!

  2. Richard

    Hello Nichol,

    You can easily resolve this issue by adding defer=”defer” to your script tags.

  3. Eric

    Wow! Thanks for this. Solved my problem instantly! Incidentally, it was an issue with calling a custom messaging plugin I wrote for jQuery, which uses the append method to attach a message container to the document.

  4. Calvin

    Sorry, I really have no idea what to do. I don’t even understand what “adding defer=”defer” to your script tags” even really mean.

    Do I copy and paste “defer=”defer”" into the HTML, is that it?

    Sorry, as you can see I’m not good in any of this!

    Thanks!

  5. Richard

    Hey Clavin, All you need to do is add

    defer="defer"
    

    to all of your Javascript declarations like this:

    <script defer="defer" type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
    
  6. ZeeBigTourist

    I’ve had this error message (and went nuts), but I cracked (not my head) the code, just in time.

    This is what I did –> http://zeebigtourist.blogspot.com/2009/06/internet-explorer-cannot-open-internet.html

    Thanks for all the helpful info.

    ZeeBigTourist

  7. simon

    this is a great fix. i banged my head on this problem for a day before finding it. THANK YOU!

  8. Pro-Vamsi

    This one did not work for me. I don’t have any reasons why this did not work only for me.

  9. ali

    Hey this piece of code did save me…I was banging my head for this frompast 2 hours and i didnt get a proper and easy solution…

  10. Charlie

    How about when you’re looking at someone elses webpage and you get that error?

  11. Richard

    @Charlie, I guess it would be nice if you mentioned this post to them :)

  12. maria

    I think I also have this problem, but I really don’t understand anything of scripts and…stuff..
    :(

    “Hey Clavin, All you need to do is add

    defer=”defer”
    

    to all of your Javascript declarations like this:

    
    

    Wherre should I write this? Where are those Javascript declarations :(

    Sorry for being so incompetent and thanks!

  13. Music

    It’s not working. I know this usually does the trick, but what you do when you try to embed a flash file into a web page?

    You see, I have this problem, when I embed a flash file into an article (in Joomla!) – suddenly the page doesn’t load in IE 7. In IE 6 things aren’t working great, but still working. So… I tried most of the solutions google offered from your posts, and still didn’t solve my problem.

    And I know it’s that flash file problem, because when I unpublish that article – things work smoothly.

    Help, please!

  14. Raul

    Greaters solution ever thankz Bro…

  15. Richard

    @Raul, no problem!

  16. Richard

    @Maria, you add defer=”defer” to the script tag.

  17. Richard

    @Music, are you sure that you’ve added it to all of the Javascript declarations?

  18. Stephanie

    Hi, please help! I’ve added deter to all the script tags in my code, and now the page just goes blank. What should I do? This is in IE of course.

  19. Stephanie

    I mean defer!

  20. Richard

    @Stephanie, Then you may have a bug in your Javascript code. Try downloading the Microsoft Javascript Debugger (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2F465BE0-94FD-4569-B3C4-DFFDF19CCD99&displaylang=en). This can help you in debugging javascript in Internet Explorer. To enable debugging, follow this tutorial, (http://www.jonathanboutelle.com/mt/archives/2006/01/howto_debug_jav.html)

  21. Phil

    Hi,

    Great article, saved me a few hours work around! Without IE bashing too much, it just goes to show that as a web designer, it’s these niggly and inexplicable things that really eat in to our time!

    I also found this microsoft page/confession(!) with regard to the same problem…

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927917

    This might help some of the people that the defer=”defer” does not immediately work for.
    Interestingly, my script was also placed outside of any elements and was within just the tag as they seem to think solves the problem.

    Maybe try both in unison.

  22. Richard

    @Phil, Thanks for tip Phil!

  23. Canvas Prints

    Yeh this seems to have worked Cheers !

  24. Ivan

    Found the fix it appears most people are looking for. It’s caused by a conflict with IE7 and the flash embed code used by YouTube and other video sites. Obviously, this fix will only work if you are the site developer.

    Here is an example of the classic video embed code:

    Simply remove the Object code so the result is:

    This all you need to do.

    If you want to test this solution, simply go to my website http://www.timeline2012.net/ which has 5 embeds on the home page.

  25. Ivan

    Found the fix it appears most people are looking for. It’s caused by a conflict with IE7 and the flash embed code used by YouTube and other video sites. Obviously, this fix will only work if you are the site developer.

    Here is an example of the classic video embed code:

    …..object width=”445″ height=”364″………………>…../embed>

    Simply remove the Object code so the result is:

    …..embed src=”http://………..&hl=en&fs=1&border=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”445″ height=”364″>

    This all you need to do.

    If you want to test this solution, simply go to my website http://www.timeline2012.net/ which has 5 embeds on the home page.

  26. Richard

    @canvasprintsonline.com, :)

  27. Richard

    @Ivan Thanks!

  28. Steven Leslie

    Internew Explorer 7, HTTP, HTTPS, port 80 … I have three profiles running on windows XP (one computer), one of the users Explorer can not connect to the internet, so it must be that users profile,, I have reset Explorer taken off all firewalls and it still will not connect,, outlook is working and I can check mail. Do you know what setting could be making the problem? Also if I use Netscape I can get to the internet.

  29. Sachin Kalra

    Thanks, really helpful

  30. Shorty

    okay i fianlly figured out where to put it, the code, but it wont stay on there. it of course is not my own web site, another web site. its making me mad because it happens everyday, everytime i try to get on there and has been for the last two weeks. i unfortunalty have let someone else use my computer and it didnt happen until they got on here and were going to chat sites and everthing else and have no clue if they dl anything or not (they say no but anyone can say no). as of now no one but me is on my computer. need help. tried everything i can think of and have run out of options. so if you could help id appreciate it very much. oh and it only happens on the one web site and no others.

  31. vidhya

    thanks a lot i was breaking my mind for more than 4 hours for this bug,thank u.

  32. V Solomon

    Simply download Mozilla’s Firefox and use that for your Web Browser.

  33. V Solomon

    Simply download Mozilla’s Firefox and use that as your web browser.

  34. Saurabh Shrivastava

    This really works and very good solution. Thanks dude!!!!!

  35. avd

    What caused the error for me was a Google adsense script placed before a script that appended the adsense to another div. Putting the adsense code in a new div and closing it before the append code did the trick. Didn’t try the “defer” solution-it might be a violation of adsense tos-not sure.

  36. Richard

    @Steven, You might wanna try modifying all setting for IE to default or even better yet, do yourself a favor and switch to a better browser like Firefox or Chrome :)

  37. Richard

    @Sachin, Thanks!

  38. Richard

    @Vidhya, No worries :) Thanks for reading!

  39. Richard

    @Saurabh, Awesome! Your welcome!

  40. Richard

    @V, lol I agree with you! But as developers, we still need to debug websites for the curse of the web (IE).

  41. Richard

    @Short, unfortunately it’s not anything with your computer settings but rather with the programming of the website.

  42. S.Z

    I fixed this problem simply by disable one IE Add-on, by:

    IE->Tools->Manage Add-on-> Publisher is ShenZhen QVOD Technology Co.,Ltd

    Name {53AC8551-0DE0-4606-8A1E-A51AF20ADD60}
    Publisher (Not verified) Shenzhen QVOD Technology Co.,Ltd
    Status Disabled
    File date Monday, March 01, 2010, 4:57 PM
    Version 3.0.0.0
    Load time (0.00 s)

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