Red X appears instead of image?

Category: Email

"Sometimes in my emails or websites, the images do not appear, but a little red X shows up. Can you tell me please how to correct this?"


Ah yes, another case of software saving us from ourselves... There are a bunch of reasons why you might see the dreaded "Red X" instead of an image while viewing a web page with Internet Explorer or an email with Outlook.

Here are some possible reasons why the Red X may appear, and suggested fixes for each:

Problem: The "Show Pictures" setting has been turned off in Internet Explorer.
Solution: In Internet Explorer's Tools menu, click Internet Options, then click the Advanced tab. Make sure the Show Pictures check box is selected under Multimedia, and click OK.

Problem: Your anti-virus or firewall is a little too uppity. Check to see if your anti-virus or firewall software has a privacy setting to "disable web bugs".
Solution: Uncheck or turn it off. (The term "web bug" is a misnomer. They are really just harmless tiny images on a web page or email, sometimes used for tracking purposes.)

Problem: Your Internet Explorer security settings are set too high, preventing you from accessing the web site which hosts the image.
Solution: Reset to the default security settings. In Internet Explorer, click on Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Default Level.

Problem: You've installed the Windows XP/SP2 updates and you're being bitten by the "Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail" security option. This is automatically turned ON in Outlook Express after you install Windows XP/SP2.
Solution: Click on Tools -> Options -> Security. Then UNCHECK the "Block images and other external content" check box, and click OK.

Problem: You are the SENDER and others are complaining that they can't see images in emails you sent,
Solution: In Outlook Express, Click Tools -> Options -> Send. Under Mail Sending Format, select HTML, then press the HTML Settings button. Make sure the "Send pictures with messages" box is checked.

Problem: The image is hosted on a website that's busy, temporarily offline or defunct. Or the image file on the website might have been renamed or deleted.
Solution: Try again later or ask the sender to send it as an attachment instead of an inline image.

Problem: The image is hosted on a website, and you're not online.
Solution: Make sure your internet connection is active and try again.

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Posted by Bob Rankin on January 19, 2006 12:55 PM


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Related Keywords: Email   red x   missing image   missing picture   outlook   outlook express   email  

Most recent comments on "Red X appears instead of image?"

(See all 44 comments for this article.)

Posted by:
Rodd
25 Apr 2008

Permanent fix is (as permanent as a MS product can be)...
Go into registry,
1. Locate the Outlook Temporary Items folder by opening the Registry and locating
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTempFolder
2. Change the 'OutlookSecureTempFolder' key DATA value to: C:\documents and settings\"userprofile name"\Local Settings\Temp

Example on my machine the key value was:
C:\documents and settings\inetmann\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

Changed it to:
C:\documents and settings\inetmann\Local Settings\Temp

Enjoy!


Posted by:
Judy
23 May 2008

I just had high speed installed. AT&T is my high speed provider. When I use AOL, sometimes I get a red X instead of a picture in mail. It's only in mail. Websites work fine. It worked fine before I got the high speed. I checked all my settings and images are allowed on everything. Any suggestions? I'm baffled.


Posted by:
Andrew
29 May 2008

Found the answer. It is port 6103. Open TCP port 6103 on your firewall and Viola. Have your Network guys open this for Any (source), Any (destination) on the LAN to WAN zone. We use SonicWall firewalls, but it is pretty much the same across the board. Hope this helps. This solved all our Red X issues we were seeing.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Very odd... Port 6103 is used for Real Estate transactions. I can't see why this would help, but good for you if it solved the problem.


Posted by:
GregH
02 Jun 2008

Microsoft Outlook printing red X instead of graphics -
If I print from the Preview Pane MS Outlook 2003 replaces the graphics with the red X.

FIX: Simply double-click the email to open it in its own window. Printing from the new window should work correctly. (Okay, it's not really a fix, per se, but it gets the job done! :-))


Posted by:
Allan
28 Oct 2008

Have red X when printing pictures from Outlook 2003, the pictures are viewable in the e-mail and if we open the e-mail but when printed body of e-mail prints but red X where the picture should be, any ideas how to get this to work :-))


Posted by:
Mandy
30 Oct 2008

I'm trying to download adobe flash player, when I click the yellow button to download, I get to the next page. Where normally a box would appear telling me to run or install I get nothing. There is a red x, but below that I can see the image of a screen dump as part of the instructions. I am not a techie and this is driving me nuts. When I try to use youtube.com I can't see a video because I don't have flash player. Please help!


Posted by:
Jennifer
19 Nov 2008

I've tried all of these options but nothing seems to work. I have Fix-It 5 Anti Spyware and I cannot find the settings to turn off web bugs. The red "x" is everywhere on my internet web pages. Any other suggestions?

EDITOR'S NOTE: My first suggestion would be to replace "Fix-It 5" (which I've never heard of) with something else, like Windows Defender. It's all too common for rogue anti-spyware programs to cause problems like this.


Posted by:
Evelyn Blake
23 Nov 2008

Very good information. Shall give the above a try. Hope it works.


Posted by:
Jeff
03 Dec 2008

I too am getting the dredded red X but to make matters worse when ever I go to Mapquest for example and the X's appear I try to "Refresh" the page and the whole page format goes wonkey. Any ideas?


Posted by:
Jake
11 Dec 2008

I get the same problem as Jeff. Only mine is with flash videos on websites. I'm getting really fed up with it. I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium. The problem only started recently even though I've made no modifications whatsoever to the computer. It just happened. Any help is appreciated.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You might try removing and re-installing the Adobe Flash player software.


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