Yesterday I installed Windows 8 and am now trying to understand why I am getting an "Access Denied" message when accessing localstorage. The page is being served on the same PC with the browser (http://localhost). My feeling is that one of the security settings in IE 10 is wrong, but I haven't figured out which one.
The line of JavaScript code triggering the error is:
if(window.localStorage.getItem('phone') == null)
The code works fine in the latest version of Chrome.
Our users were having issues with web sites using the LocalStorage feature (including Twitter) on Windows 8 with IE 10. When accessing one of these sites with the F12 Developer Tools open, a SCRIPT5: Access is denied message appeared on the console.
After working with Microsoft support, we identified the cause. It turned out to be a problem with the settings on the C:\Users\username\Appdata\LocalLow folder in their user profile.
Each folder on your computer has an integrity setting. More information about the purpose of this setting is here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb625964.aspx
The integrity setting on the AppData\LocalLow folder (and its subfolders) in each user's profile is supposed to be set to "Low" (hence the name). In our case, the integrity level was not set correctly on this folder. To rectify the problem, run the following command in a command prompt window:
icacls %userprofile%\Appdata\LocalLow /t /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)L
(If there is more than one user account on the computer and the other users are having the same issue, the command needs to be run under each affected user's account.)
As for how this setting got changed in the first place? In our case, it was caused by a problem in the customized Windows 8 image we deployed to our workstations. For others that are having the issue, my research has revealed that the use of a "system cleaner" utility may be to blame.
icacls %userprofile%\Appdata\LocalLow /t /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)H. The H sets the integrity mode to "high" (whatever that means) and then IE will be anal about localStorage. –
Overprint icacls %userprofile%\Appdata\LocalLow /t /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)H) –
Macdonald Doubtless there might be many causes of the same symptoms, but here is what fixed this issue for me.
I had just one of many Windows 7 PCs with IE11 exhibiting the symptom of "Access Denied" on attempting any JavaScript involving window.localStorage from otherwise reputable and well-behaved web sites. Use of Process Explorer revealed that the proximal cause was an ACCESS DENIED when taskhost.exe (acting on behalf of Internet Explorer) tried to open DOMStore\container.dat for Generic Read-Write. In fact, it was worse than that: if I deleted container.dat, the same ACCESS DENIED occurred, even through the file did not exist any more. And, if I deleted the (hidden) DOMStore folder, when taskhost.exe attempted to recreate it, that received ACCESS DENIED as well.
After two days of chasing false leads, the final solution was this:
The registry entry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\LowCache\Extensible Cache\DOMStore\CachePath
(do note the LowCache in that string) was incorrectly set to:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore
when it should be:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore
with the consequence that low-integrity localStorage requests were being directed to medium-integrity regions of AppData disk storage, thus generating ACCESS DENIED errors, and killing the use of JavaScript window.localStorage.
This registry entry must have been wrong for many years: perhaps a side-effect of enthusiastic take-up of buggy platform previews and so on. This error survived a total removal and re-installation of IE11.
There is a similar-looking registry entry for the medium-integrity cache:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\Extensible Cache\DOMStore\CachePath
and that is correctly left as:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore
and should not be changed.
Try enabling the Enhanced Protected Mode in the IE settings, under the Advanced tab, in the Security sub-list. This enables the Microsoft XSS filter. I had similar issues when logging into SE, and fetching google+ notifications, and my first workaround was starting IE with admin privileges. But I think the EP mode will do the trick in your case too.
Related links: Understanding Enhanced Protected Mode
Mark Russinovich always says: "when in doubt, use Process Monitor":
localStorage data gets stored in XML files in the following folder: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStore
A profile of the file activity while reproducing the issue can tell you if the problem is caused by missing file access permissions or maybe even an anti-virus program.
I can reproduce the error by adding the read-only attribute to "DOMStore\container.dat". You should check if all file/folder permissions and attributes are set correctly. On my machine, admins and my own account have full permission for the mentioned folder.
Go to Tools/Internet Options/Advanced and under 'Security' select 'Enable DOM Storage' checkbox. This should fix the problem
I added the websites involved to the Trusted Sites section of IE and have not received the error again.
This issue may also be caused by having missing or corrupted registry entries. If a reset does not resolve the issue, the LocalLow folder has the correct integrity level, and the DOMStore registry value is correct, run the below commands to re-register IE in the profile:
32 Bit OS:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ie4uinit.exe -BaseSettings
64 Bit OS:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ie4uinit.exe -BaseSettings
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ie4uinit.exe -BaseSettings
See the IE MSDN blog for more details.
In addition to the already excellent answers here, I'd like to add another observation. In my case, the NTFS permissions on the Windows %LOCALAPPDATA% directory structure were somehow broken.
To diagnose this issue. I created a new Windows account (profile), which worked fine with the localStorage,so then I painstakingly traversed the respective %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer trees looking for discrepancies.
I found this gem:
C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft>icacls "Internet Explorer"
Internet Explorer Everyone:(F)
I have NO idea how the permissions were set wide open!
Worse, all of the subdirectories has all permissions off. No wonder the DOMStore was inaccessible!
The working permissions from the other account were:
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)
my-pc\test:(OI)(CI)(F)
Which matched the permissions of the parent directory.
So, in a fit of laziness, I fixed the problem by having all directories "Internet Explorer" and under inherit the permissions. The RIGHT thing to do would be to manually apply each permission and not rely on the inherit function. But one thing to check is the NTFS permissions of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer if you experience this issue. If DOMStore has broken permissions, all attempts to access localStorage will be met with Access Denied.
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