HP Mercury Quality Center with IE8 (or not)

Posted: March 23, 2009 in technology
Tags:

Today at work I installed Internet Explorer 8 for local development and testing. Soon I found myself sweating as I was no longer able to access our issue tracking system, Mercury (now HP) Quality Center 9.0. QC is basically a full-window ActiveX control client-server app that auto-installs when you visit the QC home page of your local QC server. Only, IE 8 kept crashing and auto-retrying the activex auto-install around 3 times, finally failing with a “too many failures” message. Luckily I stumbled across the QC Explorer download a few pages down in my google search results. Voila, standalone QC – full featured, at that – without using IE.  Just install it, launch it, and in the address bar enter your existing QC URL with it (including /qcbin/start_a.htm).

/whew.

Hope this helps someone else,

- Scott

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Comments
  1. Thanks for the info on QC Explorer.

  2. Amit says:

    Thanks for the information. I am tried the same with QC ver 8.2 client side installation.. that did not work. I am not sure, if installing the newer version will help.. let me try.

  3. Christopher Ford says:

    Awesome, I was beginning to sweat too!!! =)

    Thank you very much for this1

  4. Milan says:

    Thanks so much ! It helped knowing a way without uninstalling IE8. Cheers :)

  5. Alek Davis says:

    Great! I was about to uninstall IE 8 (after Quality Center kept crashing), but now it looks like I don’t have to. Many thanks for the tip.

  6. LG says:

    Thank you!

  7. Oscar says:

    Great, got me out of a tight spot.

  8. Kugan says:

    Works like a charm. Thanks.

  9. Amit says:

    Thanks Jen.
    I tried that, but my situaion is unique in the sense that I am trying to access the QC behind a login system. I get the access to QC URL, after I logon to a system, so the QC Explorer does not work.
    I had used QCClientSideInstallation.exe with IE7, and that had worked, but that too does not work with IE8. :( IE8 keeps trying to download the ActiveX components.. and does not find the already registered QC components on system.

  10. Mark Fulton says:

    Thank you so much. Sometimes it is good to upgrade but loosing features or support is not cool. This is a great fix.

  11. Balaji S says:

    Thank you very much.. It really helps :-)

  12. PhaniJ says:

    thanks a bunch dude..

  13. Oscar says:

    Wow, I’m surprised!

    I was actually suffering because after updating my IE version, I couldn’t acces QC anymore.

    I tried the QCExplorer and it works!!

    Thank you so much Scott.

    Cheers from Monterrey, Mexico.

  14. SRN says:

    Thanks a lot. QCExplorerAddin installed a separate application (“C:\Program Files\Common Files\Mercury Interactive\QCExplorer\QCExplorer.exe”) using which I was able to access QC again.

    URL for the app; http://updates.merc-int.com/qualitycenter/qc90/others/qcexplorer/index.html

  15. Jen says:

    You are my personal hero for the day. Many thanks!

  16. Ron says:

    Thank you for the most excellent link. People were getting tired of “Can you check this defect for me?”

  17. Simk says:

    thaks for info, i was having problem accessing MQC from ie8, it solved my problem

  18. Kelly says:

    I do believe you have saved my ass. Now I can flush away that bucket of sweat :)

  19. Olly says:

    I can’t get QC to work at all in IE8 (even in compatibility mode). I just get a red X. What’s more, QCExplorer can’t see the server for some reason…

    Bizarrely, it works perfectly in Firefox using the IETab extension. Go figure…

    • arachi says:

      I tried using QCExplorer but for some reasons i got a Can’t Find Server error.

      I tried IETab and it worked!!!

      thanks a lot for the info :)

  20. Jimit says:

    Gave me jitters when I could not access QC on my newly installed IE8. Thanks for this info…you really saved the day! Works like a charm :)

  21. Holger says:

    Thanks! This has been a thorn in my side since I installed IE8. We had recently upgraded to QC10 but it still crashes with IE8.

  22. Cva says:

    Thanks Scott !

    Your info is much appreciated.

    Again credit goes to Google to show your page in the 1st result.

    Regards,
    Cva

  23. Andy says:

    Anyone tried to run site admin on QCExplorer (http://testdirector/sabin/SiteAdmin.htm)?

  24. Jens says:

    Yes, Andy. This works also well.
    Testdirector, Site Admin, Customizing and so on… everything ok for me with QCExplorer.

  25. Matthias says:

    Thanks for the hint. But what about using a proxy in QC Explorer? I’m not able to connect the server and there is option like ‘enable proxy’.

    There is no chance to connect the QC server directly because it is hosted by someone else.

    Thanks for your tip
    Matthias

  26. John says:

    You’re a life saver. Thank you.

  27. Karen says:

    ~Scott,
    Thanks SO much. After the past few weeks of using a switch box to access QC on another system, and a usb drive to copy logs over, I am finally able to use it on my system with IE8. Glad I kept searching.
    Thanks SO much.
    Karen

  28. Mickael says:

    Hi,
    Thanks for this tip but did someone found how to set the proxy for this tool because I looked for and find nothing.
    I have the same problem than matthias.

    Thanks for Help.
    Mickael

  29. Peter says:

    Since today the workaround with IE tab and Firefox is not working anymore, so I was very glad to find your great solution ;)

    Many Thanx!

  30. Job Kollamana says:

    Thank you so much
    This was a great help for me

  31. prabaharan says:

    heai Thanks a ton..i really got swet too..as i tried too many things and didn’t worked at all.
    the explorer is really cool.
    thanks so much and appriciate your help

    Regards,
    Prabha

  32. Hmullan says:

    Scott,
    Thanks a million for posting this solution. I am now up and running on QC. You are the MAN!!!!!!

  33. Niklas says:

    Thx! Almost saved me and my time :)

  34. Nilpoj says:

    Kudos!

    Had to grab 8.2 sp1…works like magic!

    1000 thank you’s.

  35. Samkad says:

    thanks man… I was getting frustated….
    but finally I can keep IE-8 and work with QC too… :)

  36. alex says:

    thank a lot
    it works fine

  37. theWonderer says:

    Awesome!!!!!!!!

  38. HP says:

    GREAT SCOTT!

    Thank you, Sir.

  39. Dann says:

    Hi All

    You can use MQC 9.0 / 9.2 / 10 with IE – 8, you need to go to
    1. GO to Internet Options
    2. Select Advance
    Under Security
    3. Uncheck “Enable Memory Protection…………”
    4. Restart IE8
    5. Hit the URL again

    • Gisele says:

      Ha! Thanks Dann.
      QCExplorer didn’t work for me although had the right version and all. I suppose it wasn’t working due to the many firewalls and restrictions we have on the company’s network.
      However, your solution made it work just fine.
      Pefect!

      Tks.

  40. TallDave says:

    Tremendously helpful. You’re a lifesaver!

  41. surekha says:

    This solution helped me too..

  42. Pooja says:

    Wonderful!! Thanks a lot for the solution. It was a true savior. Many accolades to you!

  43. Casey says:

    Thanks! Been looking for a solution to this problem for a while.

  44. Casey says:

    By the way, if anyone gets annoyed that it doesn’t keep the last URL used, you can pass your QC URL as a command line argument. Just change the command line for your QCExplorer shortcut to read something like this: “C:\Program Files\Common Files\HP\QCExplorer\QCExplorer.exe”

  45. Casey says:

    Updated command line: “C:\Program Files\Common Files\HP\QCExplorer\QCExplorer.exe” QC-URL-Here

  46. Robert says:

    Anyone know how to get the QCExplorer to connect to a non-default QC URL (ex. http://qualitycenter.host.com/qcbin/start_f.htm)? We are using this convention to provide different licensing options.

  47. Paul says:

    Thanks for the article. Very helpful

  48. Yves says:

    On your machine, in the install directory for QCExplorer is a little file called qcexplorer.ini

    Within that file are a few available config options…one of which is the name of the start page.

    • Franziska says:

      Hi all,

      Unfortunately, this didn’t work out for me, I’ve put in the default page which I would like to open when starting QC Explorer, but still there is no page displayed at startup of QC Explorer.

      I’ve changed the QCExplorer.ini as follows:

      Old: TH=start_a.htm
      New: https://hostname/qcbin/start_a.htm

      What’s wrong here? Can anyone help?

      Thank you!

  49. Amit says:

    Your this posting has helped me earlier, so I am posting a solution for folks using Quality Center 9.2 in Windows 7, here.
    In my company QC website gives a bundled client side installation “QCClient.msi” which is basically collection of all the client side browser components packed together in a single downloadable installation. This works beautifully under Windows XP, Vista and with IE 7 or 8, but for Windows 7 (IE8) it gives error during installation and hangs.
    Solution to this installation failure is –
    QCClient.msi Needs to be installed with right click “Troublehoot Compatibility” option in Windows7 to work properly. Windows 7 installs it with “by passing version check” mode.
    As usual, IE8 must be in Compatibility mode (so that it is detected as IE7 to QC website) for this to work.
    Hope this helps. I know this note would help me next time I reformat my lappy :)

  50. WorryWorm says:

    Thank you so much for this info!!! It pretty much saved me for tomorrow!! :)

  51. Sal says:

    Thank you sooo much for the post! I was begining to feel the heat until I found this refreshing pointer. Big thanks from the folks at Sony Integration & Verification!

  52. michael says:

    For IE7 to IE8 upgrade and QC 9.2 you must change IE to compatibility mode and turn off memory protection on the IE advanced tab.

    For a new QC/IE8 install the QC client side msi as admin then change IE to compatibility mode and turn off memory protection on the IE advanced tab.

    I cant garentee all QC functinality will work, but so far I havnt had any issues.

  53. Gary says:

    I have QC9.0 working in IE8. I have no idea how as I didn’t do anything special. It just works.
    The only things I can think of are:
    1) The machine it’s working on went straight from IE6 to IE8 bypassing IE7
    2) it’s a completely clean XP install and has never had QC run on it in when ie6 was installed.

    On my normal machine it doesn’t work and I use QCE, but for some reason this one is working.
    Go figure.

  54. Gary says:

    Doh! Figured it out. Just go to the QC site, let it error, turn on compatability mode and refresh.
    Working QC 9.0 in IE8

  55. Luke says:

    Thanks, Scott. Appreciate your help.

  56. abby says:

    hello,i have a problem like you, when i finish to install QC, but i can’t land in even i use QCexplorer. i don’t know why. does it caused buy database or something? i really want to know why, i have uninstalled and installed again and again

  57. Enid says:

    Hi – I have a question on QCExplorer.

    We just had a desktop refresh.

    When I tried to click a link to Quality Center from a defect email in Outlook, Outlook asked me for the location of my link browser. I told it to open in Firefox (mistake).

    How do I send links to Quality Center to QCExplorer? This worked on my old desktop but I have no idea how it is configured.

    thanks.

  58. Code saver says:

    Oh boy – you are a life saver!!! Thanks .

  59. Apple says:

    I really thank ful to you

  60. Melanee says:

    This was AWESOME Scott. Thank you so very much for getting this info out. I recently downloaded EI8 and kept going in circles with QC. You’re the best!

  61. Chaitanya says:

    Please help me regarding this. I am getting “Server cannot be found” error message. How can i come out of this problem? I had installed the plugin and even then i am not able to access QC

  62. Kevin says:

    OMG what a life saver… Yay for google search.

  63. azamjauhari says:

    Thanks for a very helpful tips.

  64. moises says:

    Thank you for posting this! This resolved the memory exception I was encountering using IE8

  65. Serdar Badem says:

    It looks like Quality Center 9.2 Supports IE8. I had to do the following to get it running :

    - Start IE8 es an Administrator (Right Click -> Run as Administrator)
    - Go to Tools -> Options and disable the “Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks” option (DEP)

    - Restart IE8 and log on to QC. It will now start downloading all the components it needs and thats it.

    Hope this helps others who are having trouble with QC on IE8/ Windows 7.

    • tester says:

      Thanks man… I disabled the memory protection to help mitigate online attacks option and that fix it. Awesome woo hoo.

    • Lavanya says:

      Hey thank you so so much for you solution,i was cracking my head for installing qc in windows 7……….this has helped me a lotttttt

  66. Jim Oates says:

    While QC 9.0 is “working” with IE8 in compatibility mode, uploading attachments generates an error.

    CEStorageClientImpl::AsyncRequestHandler….

    It appears to be an issue with the Loader Class file. (We have version 3 installed.)

    Has anyone resolved that issue or is it a non-issue for everyone?

    FYI: The repository is stored on a server and not within the database.

    Thanks,
    Jim

    • Jim Oates says:

      My previous post concerning CEStorageClientImpl::AsyncRequestHandler….

      was handled when I went to the clients desk and cleaned up the QC files and folders, including the Loader Class and forcing a QC reinstall.

      My guess is the individual did not follow instructions.

  67. Nagesh says:

    Thanks a lot, it saved me lot of time :)
    Was frustrated with this issue before.

  68. Kalyan says:

    Hi, I’m supporting 2 different clients and they have different versions of QC (9.1.0.4388 and 9.1.0.4377). I’m having Windows 7 + IE8. I can’t have both the QC Explorers with various versions running at the same time as each time I give different URL, it starts downloading the active X controls. Sometimes all the active x controls get installed properly, but sometimes they fail downloading and registering them in the computer. Appreciate if anyone can help me in this regard.

  69. deepesh says:

    I’m currently working on HP_Quality_Center_9.2_Explorer. The application asks to enter a URL when launched and this has to be captured with the application. I’ve no access to the Server URL and hence it throws an error “Cannot find server” when launched. Can anyone suggest where the URL gets stored and how can I get it?

  70. Jesse says:

    Thanks! I’ve been using IE8 for some time but only access QC occasionally. Was getting a big red X after clicking Quality Center.
    Using explorer it asked for the URL to our QC install. Copied and pasted the url and logged right in!

  71. praveen says:

    I’ve downloaded the QCexplorer.Enter the url in a address bar.getting Cannot find server.Can anyone help me on this issue.

  72. Aidan says:

    Thanks v. much for taking the time to create this page – it saved me a lot of time.

  73. dguz says:

    I am also entering a valid URL and getting Cannot find server. Does anybody have a solution?

  74. Sachin says:

    Thanks Alot….
    Saw there were so many thanks already there but your help could not be resisted without a personal note of thanks..

    It really helped…

  75. Balaco says:

    Folks,

    After browsing a lot I have found an installation file of QC Explorer for Windows 7. I’ve tried everything before, if you were not well succeeded using IE8 like me, send me an email I can send the installation file of the explorer.

    Cheers!

    • TJ says:

      Hey man – I am having problems with QC Explorer for windows 7. Please send me the installation file.

      Thanks,
      TJ

  76. Carmine says:

    Hi,
    using
    QCexplorer 9.0
    QC 9.0.
    https
    WebGatecustomization 9.1.0.4353 using IE proxy settings

    we’re receiving “Verify that the text you typed in the Address box is spelled correctly.”

    tried also with QCexplorer 9.2 but (after the downloan of the certificate ths time) the error is always the same.
    Please,can anyone provide help with this issue?
    thanks in advance

  77. Carmine says:

    further information hope somebody could help

    We need to use the QC explorer in order to connect a client PC (which has windows 2008 + IE8) to our installation of Quality Center.

    We are using:

    QCexplorer 9.0
    QC 9.0
    https protocol
    WebGatecustomization 9.1.0.4353 (set up to use IE proxy settings)

    Everything is working smoothly with another PC using IE6 but with QCexplorer we’re receiving an error, namely : “Verify that the text you typed in the Address box is spelled correctly.”.

    With the same configuration, if I try to connect to another QC server (we are trying to migrate to https) with simple http everithing works well.

    We tried also with QCexplorer 9.2 but, even though this version seems to manage the negotiation of the certificates, the error is always the same.

    Now I’m wondering if the problem is related to the incompatibility of QCexplorer 9.2 with our QC version (should we upgrade QC to 9.2?)

    Do you know how it is possible to solve this problem?

    thanks

  78. Eduardo Moya says:

    Thanks men, this was very very very helpfull.

    One more thing, in the page that you post rignt now, there are 2 clients, ver 9.0 and 9.2. The version 9.2 didn’t works for me, so i’ve installed the version 9.0 and works perfectly.

    Bye.

    Cheers from Santiago, Chile.

    Windows 7
    Internet Explorer 8

  79. Valliaappan says:

    That was really helpful, thanks a lot.

  80. cbluebell says:

    Works perfect.
    I installed the version 9.2 on Windows 7 with ie8. You see couldn´t deinstall the ie8.

    Thanks a lot!

  81. qcuser says:

    Thanks a lot.
    This worked. Thanks for the help.

  82. ravi says:

    Can you please send me the installation file of QC Explorer for Windows 7.

  83. RAM says:

    when i will open the qc in ie8 its shows certification errors &
    turn on compatability mode
    and sometimes its closed or Freezed
    please help me

  84. SV says:

    Helped me a bunch. Thanks for posting this.

  85. ANAND says:

    We have installed QC Explorer, and every thing is working fine. We want our QC URL http://xxxxx/qcbin/start_a.html to be the default home page and should load on open the explorer. does any body have any idea how to configure this. Please shed some light, it really helps a lot.

    Thanksmuch
    ANAND.

  86. TC says:

    Hi,

    I have changed settings of IE 8(unchecked Enable Memory Protection to help mitigate online attacks), and restarted the browser, still my Quality center is not working and I am getting the error “Microsoft Internet Explorer : 4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; QS 4.2.2.3; FBSMTWB; GTB6.5; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) is not supported!
    Only Internet Explore 6 and 7 are supported. ”

    I have installed add-in also but when I start it, it starts downloading updates and hangs in between. When I try again it says “can’t find the server..Verify that the text you typed in the Address box is spelled correctly.”

    Please help.
    Thanks.

  87. Some Guy says:

    Brilliant thanks! Works a treat.

    (Or should I say “arrgghhh!!!”, because now I actually have to use “Quality” Center, heh)

  88. Pravin says:

    Thanks Scott for doing the researching the solution and posting it for the benefit of other.

    It worked for me!

  89. Divya says:

    i have been workign with QC yesterday installed it and it was workign fine til today morning when i came in and started it it says “Server Not Found” please help!!!

  90. Qiraat says:

    Okay… good its working now… I used Compatibility View.
    Whenever you get error message on IE8, just click on the “teared sheet” icon you find next to the URL field to enable Compatibility mode. This makes your browser act like IE 7

  91. juan carlos says:

    gracias por el tip, ya que esta cosa no jala en ie8

  92. Fuaad Lone says:

    Thanks a lot. You are a life saver. Works like a charm even on windows 7 pro 64 bit.

  93. Madhoo says:

    Wow..thks..this helped me.

  94. Ashwani says:

    Great tip…worked like a charm for me!

    Thanks for the help

  95. Ben says:

    Thanks, I reimaged a Vista laptop with Windows7 and customer needed QC. I breathe a sigh of relief

  96. A fine QA metric is defect arrival rate. It would be good if a QC reports allowed this to be charted on a five day rolling average – or charted at all! Sometimes I wonder how the SW development teams got so far removed from engineering processes – then I try not to think about it. Six Sigma is spouted by people who apparently don’t even know what a normal curve standard deviation is. Not sure where the Computer Progamming industry is headed… not sure how or if it can ever focus on science again.

  97. rufik says:

    I have a problem installing QC 9.2.0.5137 client on Windows
    7 64bit. I have applied “Troublehoot Compatibility” on installation
    file, but still got error registring components: bp_test.ocx failed
    to register. HRESULT -2147023898. Any idea how to pass it
    by?

  98. baljinder says:

    Try running the installation in “Run as Admin” (right click option) and also open the QCExplorer in admin mode for the first time, this solved a similiar issue i had.

  99. LV says:

    Great solution, thanks!

  100. kasinadh says:

    even i tried that but it is throwing an error that some of the files are not installing

  101. umamahesh says:

    I am trying to install QC11.0 in my windows 7 64 bit os, however, I was unable to install can any one help me regarding this

  102. Pravin says:

    Sweet .. great !

  103. Chan says:

    thanks!

  104. cohizzle says:

    many many thanks man, really!

  105. Thank you!! Just what I needed.

  106. ashish sharma says:

    thanks a lot for this info man !
    I was struggling since got my new office laptop to have it fixed……….. the last resort was to use Mercury QC on IE6.

    But not anymore……… thanks for sharing this

  107. anon says:

    thanks for this… i’ve been sweating badly

    • Jim Oates says:

      To avoid using QC Explorer use the following.

      ** Ensure QC 9.0 webpage is running in compatibility mode.
      ** Add the website to the “Local intranet” security listing
      ** If running XP SP3 follow these steps.
      1. Open Internet Explorer
      2. Select Tools on the menu bar
      3. Select Internet Options
      4. Select the Advanced tab
      5. Scroll down to the Security section
      6. Find & disable “Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks”

      If accessing QC results in a white scrren press Ctrl-F5. (The GUI interface has timed out and this forces a refresh (F5) ignoring the cache (Ctrl).

  108. syed says:

    hi i want to know the url to be typed in the box of qc explorer for qc server. Can anyone help me

  109. Sandip Kumar says:

    This helped in quickly installing the explorer view and continue to work.
    Good work.
    Better than google.
    Have fun.
    Thanks

  110. Brian Frris says:

    thanks – worked great

  111. Lana says:

    Awsome! It worked. Thanks a lot.

  112. myrealcode says:

    I have installed Quality center 9.0 successfully. I am using http://lifedpc:1433/qbin/start_a.htm in quality center 8.2 explorer as IE 8.0 is not compact-able with QC 9.0. Could anyone let me know what this error is : Cannot find server.

  113. Tricia says:

    thank you! It helped me.

  114. Venkat1967 says:

    Hi
    We are using QC 9.2 windows 7 QC Eplorer, We have Window Maximize issue,
    When we maximize the QC explorer window .it is not getting refreshed, i.e the default content size continues, do you suggest any work around for this please

    Thanks in advance

  115. macme says:

    Thanks Dude Wprked Perfectly :)..Its a Great information.

  116. Espen says:

    I love google who showed me you blog. Exactly the same problem as you. Thanks

  117. Chidimma says:

    Hello,
    Please you guys need to help me solve this problem. I have install QC 9.0 on my XP and also QC Explorer but am still having this issue “cannot find server”

  118. Aldo Elam Majiah says:

    thank you bro! your link saves me hours of in-vain troubleshootings!!

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