You receive a "Cannot copy file: File system error (1026)" error message when you try to download a zero byte file in Internet Explorer 4.x (262927)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 2
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 98 SP 2
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 95 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 95 SP 2
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows 95
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 3.1 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 3.1 SP 2
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows 3.1

This article was previously published under Q262927

SYMPTOMS

When you use Internet Explorer 4.x to download a zero-byte file from a Web server, you receive the following error message:

Cannot copy file: File system error (1026).

Note that this problem only occurs if you choose to save the file to disk when you receive the following prompt:

What would you like to do with this file - Open this file from its current location or Save this file to disk.

If you choose "Open this file from its current location", it starts the program that is associated with the file, or if the file type is not associated with a program, it prompts you to select a program to use to open the file in the Open With dialog box.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.01.

To work around this problem, edit the file with a text editor (such as Notepad) and add a single blank line to the file to make the file larger than zero bytes. Because a zero byte file contains no data, this permits you to download the file, and should not affect the program that would make use of the file.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Internet Explorer 4.x.

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	11/15/2004
Keywords:	kberrmsg kbprb KB262927