Cipher Strength Appears as 0-Bit in Internet Explorer

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q261328

 

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you may experience the following behaviors:

• When you click About Internet Explorer on the Help menu, the Cipher Strength value is 0-bit.
• You cannot connect to and view Web pages on SSL-secured Web sites.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, or Rsaenh.dll files are missing, damaged, or of the incorrect version.

 

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, use the method that is appropriate for your operating system.

Method 1: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

Step 1: Rename the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, and Rsaenh.dll files

1. Insert the Windows Millennium Edition Startup disk into the floppy drive, and then restart the computer.
   
   For additional information about how to create a Windows Millennium Edition Startup disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

267287 How to create a startup disk in Windows Millennium Edition

2. When the Startup menu appears, use the ARROW keys to select Start computer with CD-ROM Support, and then press ENTER.
3. Note the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.
4. At the command prompt, type the following lines, and then press ENTER after each line.
   
   Note C: is the drive where Windows is installed:

C:
cd windows\system

5. Rename the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, and Rsaenh.dll files (if they are present) by using the .old file name extension. To do this, type the following command lines, and then press ENTER after each line:

ren schannel.dll schannel.old
ren rsabase.dll rsabase.old
ren rsaenh.dll rsaenh.old

Step 2: Extract new copies of the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, and Rsaenh.dll files

1. Insert your Windows Millennium Edition CD into the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive.
2. At the command prompt, type the following lines, and then press ENTER after each line:

A:
ext

3. When you are prompted to type the path of the Windows CAB files, type the following command, and then press ENTER:drive:\win9x.
   
   Notedrive is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. For example, type:

E:\win9x

Note If you have an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) installation of Windows, the installation files may also be located in the following folder:

drive:\Windows\Options\Install

Notedrive is the drive where Windows is installed.

If these files are on your computer, you do not need your Windows CD because you can extract the files from the appropriate folder on your hard disk. For example, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

C:\Windows\Options\Install

4. When you are prompted to type the names of the files that you want to extract, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

schannel.dll rsabase.dll rsaenh.dll

5. When you are prompted to type the path, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

drive:\Windows\System

Notedrive is the drive where Windows is installed.

6. When you are prompted to confirm whether this is okay, type Y, and then press ENTER.
7. Remove the Windows Millennium Edition Startup disk from the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.
   
   For additional information about how to extract files with the System Configuration Utility tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265371 How to extract and replace a protected file in Windows Me

Step 3: Verify the version of the Advapi32.dll file

1. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate the following file:

drive:\Windows\System\Advapi32.dll

Notedrive is the drive where Windows is installed.

2. Right-click Advapi32.dll, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Version tab.
4. Note the version of the Advapi32.dll file. If the version of this file is not 4.90.0.3000 or greater, you must repeat steps 1 through 2 to extract a new copy of this file to the drive:\Windows\ System folder.

Step 4: Reregister the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, Rsaenh.dll, Security.dll, and Secur32.dll files

1. Note Follow these steps separately for each of the files that you reregister.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type one of the following commands (for the file that you are re-registering), and then click OK.

drive:\windows\system\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system\schannel.dll

drive:\windows\system\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system\rsabase.dll

drive:\windows\system\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system\rsaenh.dll

drive:\windows\system\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system\security.dll

drive:\windows\system\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system\secur32.dll

Notedrive is the drive where Windows is installed

4. Click OK when you receive the "DllRegisterServer in file name succeeded" message.

Step 5: Verify the cipher strength in Internet Explorer

Start Internet Explorer, and then click About Internet Explorer on the Help menu. Verify that the Cipher Strength value is 128-bit.

Method 2: Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
2. In the Advanced settings box, click Show all files, clear the Hide file extensions for known file types check box (if it is selected), and then click OK.
3. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate the drive:\Windows\System folder.
   
   Notedrive is the drive where Windows is installed.
4. Rename the Schannel.dll, Rsabase.dll, and Rsaenh.dll files (if they exist) by using the .old file name extension. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the Schannel.dll file, and then click Rename.
2. Type schannel.old, and then press ENTER.
3. Repeat steps 2a through 2b to rename the Rsabase.dll and Rsaenh.dll files to Rsabase.old and Rsaenh.old.
5. Reinstall Internet Explorer. To do this, use the method that is appropriate for your version of Internet Explorer:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

1. Download and install Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, or reinstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp

Note If the Reinstall all items? dialog box appears, click Reinstall all components, and then click OK.

2. Restart the computer, start Internet Explorer, click About Internet Explorer on the Help menu, and then verify that Cipher Strength is 128-bit.

Method 3: Microsoft Windows XP

Repair or reinstall Internet Explorer or Windows XP.

For additional information about how to do this, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

318378 How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP

315341 How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

MORE INFORMATION

If you restore your computer to 128-bit cipher strength, and you still cannot view Web pages on SSL-secured Web sites, follow these steps:

1. Click Internet Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Advanced tab.
2. Under Security, select the Use SSL2.0 check box and the Use SSL3.0 check box (if they are not already selected).
3. Click OK.

REFERENCES

For additional information about how to troubleshoot a similar issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

303807 'The page cannot be displayed' error message when you try to view Web page on a secure Web site

For additional information about how to extract compressed Windows files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

129605 How to extract original compressed Windows files

For additional information about how to determine which folder Windows is installed in, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

305792 How to determine which folder Windows is installed in