Dissolve error in 10.3

[StanaforthHopkins]

After successfully dissolving a line shapefile into a one feature shapefile, the dissolve geoprocessing function consistently malfunctions on successive tries for any shapefile. I'm running on Windows 7 Professional on an HP Pavilion Dv6 Notebook with 64-bit i3 CPU and 4 GB RAM. I'd bet anything that it's an ESRI problem though.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

and you rebooted ​ and renamed your default template and/or profile to see if that solved the problem?

[StanaforthHopkins]

Thanks for the info, but I'm new to these ideas. HELP seems to have a number of templates and profiles. Could you be more specific on the cause of and the fix for the probem?.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Stanaforth, try looking at ​Resetting your ArcGIS application profile  for help on resetting/refreshing your profile.

[StanaforthHopkins]

Thanks Rebecca, but resetting all three didn't do the trick.

Looking harder at the error messge, I decided to rename MdDigContent.htm. A reboot of ArcGIS created a new one, but the problem is still the same!

[SepheFox]

Have you seen this article, Stanaforth? ArcGIS Geoprocessing Tools Scripting Error | GISNuts.com Perhaps it will help.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Nice catch Sephe!!! explains why I have never seen it...I never use arccatalog except to create a new network dataset​

[StanaforthHopkins]

I followed the procedure in the scripting error report mentioned by Stephe and was unsuccessful. I tried all four versions of security level (Medium,Medium-High) and ArcGIS Geoprocessing Tools Scripting Error (Enable,Disable) and was careful to reboot ARCGis each time. I think I'll hang up this problem for awhile. Too time intensive.

"The next day, I did a little bit more research and testing. Once I knew what to search for, I found that someone had noticed the pattern and posted a blog article about the error in January of 2011. The solution was to decrease one's Internet Explorer security settings from the default level of Medium-high to Medium. I tried this, and problem solved. I could view metadata and then open a geoprocessing tool without error. Yeah!!!

Note:  If you want to do this, be sure to adjust the settings in the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, not the 64-bit version.

Only one issue, I now had medium level security settings. Probably not that big of a deal for me since I do not use the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer (except in ArcMap), but this would not fly in a standard work environment.

I decided to figure out exactly which setting was causing the problem. After some experimenting, I found it. The setting Allow previously unused ActiveX controls to run without prompt needs to be set to Enable.

If you want to change this setting, then open the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer by going to Start --> All Programs --> Internet Explorer. The 64-bit version will say Internet Explorer (64-bit).  Once Internet Explorer opens, go to Tools --> Internet Options, and click on the Security tab.

For your Internet settings, click on Custom level..., and scroll down until you find the ActiveX controls and plug-ins.  Change Allow previously unused ActiveX controls to run without prompt from Disable toEnable.

Click Ok, Yes, and OK, and then close Internet Explorer.  This of course requires you to have permission to change these settings."