Why does IE8 fail to window.open() when viewing local HTML files (and how to fix it)?

Question

Due to orders, I must test some pages from a local file system running Windows XP and IE8. Firefox and other browsers can view the documents and javascript for opening new windows works. However, with IE8, I get new window filled with some default error message, "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage".

Anyhow the first "launcher" html is located in a path like so: C:\Documents and Settings\Tester1\My Documents\Sites\testsite\Launcher.html

Launcher.html has links which call window.open() with a URL of Target.html. This is the point of failure. The window opens, but contains only the error message.

Answer 1

It's a security feature so a rogue site can't poke and execute malicious commands on your machine.

I'd reckon your best bet is to setup a simple server like XAMPP.. just for local testing.