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Explorer view in SharePoint

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A very useful feature in SharePoint is the ability to open libraries and lists in explorer view. This helps to copy / organize multiple files very easily rather than going through the multi step upload process.

If you haven't used this;

  • Go to a document library
  • In the main tool bar select actions -> Open with windows explorer.

Recently when I tried this with Windows 7 and IE 8, It didn't work and got the message saying "your client does not support opening this list with windows explorer". The issue was with the "webclient service", a service which is required to access internet based files. Once this service is started, the explorer view in SharePoint worked fine.

To activate;

  • START - > RUN - > type services.msc.
  • This will open up the services console.
  • Locate the WebClient service. Right click and select properties.
  • Make the start up type as automatic and start the service. 

(Source : https://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-internetexplorer-general/347382-explorer-view-sharepoint-not-working-ie8.html)

Update:  (https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointgeneral/thread/f59c1734-1777-426b-a6b4-2681e345cc92)

"Open with Windows Explorer” of SharePoint site will only work for the 32-bit system.

The reason is that Web DAV functionality is provided natively by Web Client Service and extended by the Office installation of Microsoft Data Access Internet Publishing Provider(MSDAIPP). Since MSDAIPP is only 32-bit, it cannot be used by 64 bit Internet Explorer.

A workaround is to use  32-bit Internet Explorer in Win 7 64-bit system when the user needs “Open with Windows Explorer”.