I have only recently come to BOINC as a distributed project via Oxford Uni has come to an end. I downloaded and set up the manager and tried to assist with SETI@home but found out that they are having a server prob at the moment. Not wanting to waste too much time I added Einstein@home project and that appears to be running fine.
My problem appears to be within BOINC Manager itself. If I click on something in BOINC M that should take me to a web page I get an error "BOINC Manager tried to display the web page xxxxx but couldn't find a web browser. To fix this, set the environmental variable
BROWSER to the path of your web browser, then restart the BIONIC Manager"
I have checked Environment Variables, there was no entry for Browser so I created one and gave it the correct path.
Tried shutting down BOINC Manager and then restarting the program, same.
Tried a Restart, same.
Did a complete shut down and boot from scratch, same.
I put in xxxxx for the web page as this error occurs if I try to get to a page concerned with BOINC Manager (ie click on BOINC Manager on the drop down menu under "Help"), SETI@home (ie click on the web site "SETI@home" when S@h is selected as the project), or Einstein@home (ie selecting any of the web sites when E@h is selected as the project).
I don't think it is the project's server not responding I think it is BOINC Manager can't find the browser to get out and find the web page, even though I have added the Environmental Variable.
I am using Firefox 2.0.0.3 as my browser in Win XP Pro and needless to say Firefox works fine and is at the address I specified when I set up the Environmental Variable BROWSER.
Any suggested fix short of uninstall-reinstall? Thanks in anticipation.

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The environment variable seems to be only for Unix/Linux machines; I never saw anything about it on Windows.

Do you have Firefox set as the default browser?

Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Set Program Access and Defaults, set Firefox to be your default browser, OK out.

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The environment variable seems to be only for Unix/Linux machines; I never saw anything about it on Windows.

Do you have Firefox set as the default browser?

In WinXP environment variable is accesses via Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables.

Yes Firefox is my default browser, opens fine from icon on desktop, and the location in Properties on the icon is the same as the location I put into Environment Variables for BROWSER?

Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Set Program Access and Defaults, set Firefox to be your default browser, OK out.

Thanks for suggestion. Checked here and both Non-Micro$oft and Custom have "use my current web browser" set for Web Browser:

Firefox is my default browser. ???

Is it something unique to BOINC. Or if you have something like Thunderbird or Skype and you click on a link, is it broken as well?

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Kathryn :o)

The environment variable seems to be only for Unix/Linux machines; I never saw anything about it on Windows.

Do you have Firefox set as the default browser?

For a Unix system, try using Konquerer as your Default browser, Firefox is fine, but with Unix, use control panel as sujested.

Good luck

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Doug,

The OP is using XP Pro, not *nix.

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Kathryn :o)

Is it something unique to BOINC. Or if you have something like Thunderbird or Skype and you click on a link, is it broken as well?

Very good question KSMarksPsych, you are on to something there. I tried a link in Thunderbird and it just sat there and looked at me! No error, no nothing! I copied the link and pasted it into a document (OpenOffice) and it appeared as a hyperlink but clicking on it gave the error "File does not have a program associated with it ...." Therefore not unique to BOINC, I just had not noticed it happening in Thunderbird or in a document (how long since I clicked on a link?) and I thought it was only happening in BOINC. Even though not unique to BOINC can you point me in right direction? Thanks, Tony

Hey tony.

Did you manage to fix that problem?
I'm getting the same thing...

Hey tony.

Did you manage to fix that problem?
I'm getting the same thing...

What OS? What version of BOINC?

Did you check your defaults? And are you seeing the same thing in other programs that call your browser?

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Kathryn :o)

Hey tony.

Did you manage to fix that problem?
I'm getting the same thing...

SafariJack, I have not been able to fix it yet, I have tried a few things without success, latest advice is to remove Firefox and Install IE7 and make it my default browser. A little hesitant to do that without some time up my sleeve to put it back how it should be. I will be following it up, not a techo but have no intention of being beaten, if there are any results I will post. If you manage to fix it I would appreciate being told what worked :)

Windows XP pro. the latest off website 5.8.16.

When I try msword it manages to bring up the browser(firefox) but instead of going to the URL I put in ms word (www.dota-allstars.com) it tries to go to this http://www.dota-allstars.com/FirefoxHTML%5CShell%5COpen%5CCommand."/FirefoxHTML%5CShell%5COpen%5CCommand"
I think that is a clue as to why it is failing to work through BOINC but I'm not sure. I'm accessing out of Rhodes varsity, South Africa and I think Tony you also connect from a varsity 2 (Oxford, looking at your first post?). In that case we both connect through proxies. Now I know that Boinc deals with the whole proxy thing with respect to downloading material but maybe it can't deal with it with respect to trying to connect to webpages from within boinc itself? But then again the fact that BOINC can't call the browser on the computer points at a problem with BOINC and the computer rather than BOINC and the proxy. I don't really know quite what is going on I've tried all the things previously mentioned. I've also tried to trail through the source code of BOINC but I don't really know the language all that well and I didnt have access to the proper source code just snippets I could find online :/.Um I'm not like a hectic techy but more of a just a good problem solver but this thing has eluded me. Going to try find the proper source code when exams are done and try figure stuff out from there.

Sj

Hey tony.

Did you manage to fix that problem?
I'm getting the same thing...

What OS? What version of BOINC?

Did you check your defaults? And are you seeing the same thing in other programs that call your browser?

Going to try find the proper source code when exams are done and try figure stuff out from there.

I got the source code by downloading TortoiseSVN and then doing the checkout following the directions in the wiki. You will have to reboot after installing the TortoiseSVN. But after that, it was a very simple procedure (even I could figure it out).

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Kathryn :o)

My BOINC Manager (Linux 5.10.8 64 Bit) isn't doing anything! It doesn't open a new browser, doesn't show a page in the already open browser or doesn't show an error message. Just nothing. When I attach to a new project, BOINC manager just says that it will open a browser to enter account information but again: nothing happens when clicking the OK button ... :-(

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BOINC 7.2.42 (x86_64) on Linux Ubuntu 16.04 (64 Bit), AMD APU 7850K 3.7 GHz, 32 GB RAM.

Boinc manager version 5.10.8

Running on Linux 2.6.11

When Boinc attempts to open a web page it fails with a message to set an environment variable.

Setting the BROWSER environment variable does not help.

Has anyone been able to resolve this problem?

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Larry

Boinc manager version 5.10.8

Running on Linux 2.6.11

When Boinc attempts to open a web page it fails with a message to set an environment variable.

Setting the BROWSER environment variable does not help.

Has anyone been able to resolve this problem?

--
Larry

I haven't fully resolved the problem but I've made a little progress by adding the following line to home/.bashrc.

BROWSER=/usr/lib64/firefox-1.5.0.12/firefox-bin ; export BROWSER

Now I no longer get the error message saying BOINC can't find the browser. Unfortunately the *&!$ browser still does not start, no error message, no beep, nothing. Neither rebooting nor restarting BOINC solved the problem.

I have theorised that BOINC is now able to find the browser but is passing the URL parameter incorrectly. Still, one would think the browser would at least start and go to my home page or something.

I am running 64-bit Fedora Core 5 and Firefox 1.5.0.12. Yes, I know my FF is outdated but the .rpm from Mozilla fails and Pup does not list an update for FF, I assume because Mozilla's .rpm is known to fail.

My home/.bashrc looks like this:

# .bashrc

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
	. /etc/bashrc
fi

# User specific aliases and functions

BROWSER=/usr/lib64/firefox-1.5.0.12/firefox-bin ; export BROWSER

Is that you Dagorith? Might be a good idea to get your browser up to snuff as Mozilla is dropping security update support shortly or has already for 1.5?

@ moderators

I am offended therefore the quoted post is offensive and in contravention of forum rules. Please delete posts from this thread hijacking troll Sekernob and/or suspend its posting privileges.

Thank you.