Just a quick solution in case you ever get the following message when trying to open a SharePoint Document Library in explorer view from Windows Server 2008
Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer.
This is due to the fact that Explorer view uses the WebDav protocol to connect to SharePoint from the client. As Windows Server is not designed to be a client, the WebDav client is not installed or enabled by default.
In order to enable the WebDav client (along with other client features such as Windows Media Player and Desktop Themes) on a server (you’re not doing this on a production server, right?), simply enable the Desktop Experience feature.
(thanks to Troy on the SharePoint team for this tip!)
Update: This can also happen if you are using Internet Explorer 6 and the URL to the Document Library is longer than 100 characters (covered in KB 923906), but you're not using IE 6 are you? It's time to upgrade! http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx
Same exact thing is happening to me. with win server 2008 r2 and sharepoint 2010 , win xp client , ie8. when i update ie8 this is solved.
Although this works, there is no reason to thank an individual such as Troy.
Same issue here, nothing seems to solve the issue permanently.
not working on w7 with ie 10, 32 bit, webclient is running, cache is clear, url in trusted zone... but still not working
not working on w7 with ie 9- 32 bit, webclient is running, cache is clear, url in trusted zone... but still not working
nothing has changed on any fixes I have tried
It's pretty sad when MS can't even put out a product that talks to their own product correctly.
hice todos los pasos ya sea opciones de internet , webclient , experiencia de escritorio (server08) IE 8,9 y nada , tengo un error de certificado , puede ser eso el problema ??
User could open and close document library once and then would receive the error when attempting to open the second time. Restarting the WebClient Service allows the user to open a second time.
For SharePoint 2013, my problem was that I was trying to "Open with Explorer" something that probably can't be opened with Explorer. In my case, I just wanted to open my team's Shared Documents with Explorer. I found that when I first log into SharePoint and view the page, I'm presented with those Shared Documents, but also other things as well. To get "Open with Explorer" to work, I must click "Shared Documents" under the Libraries heading on the left. Then, all the other stuff (Links, Getting Starter, etc.) go away and I'm focused on my team's shared documents. From there, I can go up to the Library Tools section in the ribbon, choose the Library tab in the ribbon, and click Open with Explorer. Works like a champ on Windows 7 64-bit, running IE 9 32-bit.
Update on the above: I'm using SharePoint 2010 and not always does the above solution seem to work; seems as random as ever.
Update on the above: Seems logging out of SharePoint and back in alleviates the problem, though I also cleared my cookies and temporary internet files before doing so. I'll keep running experiments until I figure out what the repeatable solution seems to be.
This is what I hope to be my final update and solution to this problem, at least in my environment. I have to first open a file (any file) from that SharePoint site. Once opened, I can click Open with Explorer and it works consistently.
This worked for us after all else failed. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie11-windows_7/ie-11-on-windows-7-sharepoint-open-in-explorer/f138ec8a-c93a-4da4-8c2c-40be0dbbf09b?rtAction=1418144871022