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Does URLDownloadToFile still work on a Windows 11 computer without Internet Explorer on it?

valentin anderegg 0 Reputation points
2024-07-04T07:03:02.5766667+00:00

I have written a windows console program that uses the win32 URLDownloadToFile function. This then ran for a long time without any problems on a windows 11 machine.

However, 2 months ago this PC was reinstalled and since then the program no longer works and it no longer works because of this function. The error code INET_E_DOWNLOAD_FAILURE is returned.

What has been tried so far to solve the problem is to deactivate the firewall, ensure the permissions and ensure a connection to the internet.

But during my research i came across an interesting article from microsoft where it says the minimum requirement for this function is internet explorer version 3.0 but the article is from 2016 and i wanted to ask if this is still the case?

Windows API - Win32
Windows API - Win32
A core set of Windows application programming interfaces (APIs) for desktop and server applications. Previously known as Win32 API.
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C++
C++
A high-level, general-purpose programming language, created as an extension of the C programming language, that has object-oriented, generic, and functional features in addition to facilities for low-level memory manipulation.
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  1. Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 9,766 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-07-04T08:38:26.8066667+00:00

    If the URL is invalid, INET_E_DOWNLOAD_FAILURE is returned. Have you checked whether the URL works?

    And URLDownloadToFile could work normally on my Windows 11 OS without IE.

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