Embedding Internet Explorer as the sole way to display the BtSync UI on Windows guarantees failure.
[ NOTE: Internet Explorer is NOT my default browser, I have both Chrome and Firefox installed, and tired to display the btsync UI with each of them set at the default browser. No luck. ]
It is possible for Internet Explorer to get itself into a state where it is IMPOSSIBLE to repair it, reset it, or work around this problem by completely removing and reinstalling it. There is a setting buried in the registry somewhere which prevents proper rendering of content in certain circumstances. Circumstances like: the bysync UIthe login screen used by Word, Excel, etc., by Office 365 to login to its online account. (all other aspects of Word work fine, it just cannot log in.)the login screen at http://live.microsoft.comIn effect, any use of IE as an embedded control, and even some instances of live websites, can lead to circumstances where the content simply does not get rendered, or the UI is completely unresponsive. It is as if scripting is completely disabled, when in fact it is not.
Observe:
Yes, it connects and retrieves the page content:
But, as a previous poster observed, the DOM is never populated:
Internet Explorer is just utterly broken, and cannot be repaired without completely reinstalling Windows.
Before you reply, I repeat, all attempts to remedy this, including every permutation of the following: repairing ie, resetting the security settings, wiping all history, creating a new windows user, removing and reinstalling internet explorer, etc., etc., are COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE AND USELESS.
In rare instances, resetting the security zones will help some users. But in many instances, there is simply no help to be had. There are a significant number of users out there who are completely unable to login to live.microsoft.com, or login to their Office 365 accounts on certain computers.
I suspect that the genesis of this problem was an emergency hotfix which Microsoft released years ago, to address some sort of zero day exploit, without needing to wait for patch Tuesday. I have a dim recollection of this, but I cannot remember precisely. But I do remember that it had to do with an obscure situation involving scripting permissions, perhaps relating to kill bits, or perhaps only happening contemporaneously with the kill bits issue I'm remembering... Maybe some obscure DLL got unregistered or something...
Anyway, NONE of the advice available online to do the typical repairs to Internet Explorer are effective in any way.
This may seem like an edge case, but trust me, you will have a significant number of users for whom repair of IE will simply be IMPOSSIBLE. And it is likely that where one user is affected, ALL users in the organization will be affected, if the emergency hotfix from years ago is the culpit, and it was rolled out to an entire inventory of desktops...
Good luck fixing this, (he said sarcastically). Because you won't be able to. You have ZERO POWER to fix a broken IE, when it is broken in this fashion.
PLEASE release a "headless", command line version of btsync for Windows, or expose the localhost web GUI as I see others mention in this thread.