Can't retrieve Web page via VBScript unless opened in browser first - vbscript

Question

I want to retrieve and process some Web pages with VBScript, which is being run from the command line. It bears mentioning that I'm on a work computer, and "some setting are managed by your system administrator". Also, I log in to the computer with a CAC, so (and I think this is the problem) there are certificates involved.
My problem is that, frequently, when I run the VBScript I'll get back a 401/unauthorized error, for both HTTPS and non-HTTPS sites. If I then open the URL in a browser, the script (still being run from the command line) will work. If I run the script on my home computer I can always access any URL without first having to open it in a browser. So, I'm guessing it has to do with either the certificates in my CAC (which are also installed on the computer), or some other certificate on the computer, that are used to authenticate the connection (or some such thing).
My question is: how can I retrieve various Web pages using VBScript (without installing any additional software) without having to first open the URL in a browser to get the script to work?
Here is my code for getting a Web page, if that helps:
function getWebPage(sURL)
dim iErrorCount
on error resume next
'******************
'ERROR CHECKING OFF
'******************
oHTTP.Open "GET", sURL, False
oHTTP.Send
if (err.number <> 0) then
iErrorCount = 0
do
iErrorCount = iErrorCount + 1
log "log.txt", "Error retrieving Web page. Error #0x" & hex(err.number) & ". Description: " & err.description, 0, true
if (iErrorCount = 5) then
log "log.txt", vbTab & "Five successive errors retrieving Web page. Exiting...", 1, true
msgbox "ERROR: Five successive errors retrieving " & chr(34) & sURL & chr(34) & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "See the log file for details." & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "Exiting...", vbOkOnly, programName
log "last result.html", oHTTP.ResponseText, 0, false
wscript.quit
else
wscript.sleep iErrorCount * 60000
set oHTTP = nothing
set oHTTP = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP.6.0")
oHTTP.Open "GET", sURL, False
oHTTP.Send
end if
loop until (err.number = 0)
end if
on error goto 0
'*****************
'ERROR CHECKING ON
'*****************
if (oHTTP.Status <> 200) then
log "log.txt", vbcrlf & vbtab & "Error retrieving Web page" & vbcrlf & vbtab & "URL: " & sURL & vbcrlf & vbtab & "Status: " & oHTTP.Status & vbcrlf & vbtab & "Description: " & oHTTP.statusText, 1, true
msgbox "ERROR: Cannot retrieve Web page." & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "See the log file for details." & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "Exiting...", vbOkOnly, programName
wscript.quit
else
' log "last result.html", oHTTP.ResponseText, 0, false
getWebPage = oHTTP.ResponseText
end if
end function
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

You have to get the url exactly right with xmlhttp object. Run this code and print out the error messages (you can copy a messagebox with Ctrl + C).
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set Outp = Wscript.Stdout
On Error Resume Next
Set File = WScript.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")
File.Open "GET", "ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/README.TXT", False
File.setRequestHeader "User-Agent", "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; .NET4.0C; .NET4.0E; BCD2000; BCD2000)"
File.Send
If err.number <> 0 then
line =""
Line = Line & vbcrlf & ""
Line = Line & vbcrlf & "Error getting file"
Line = Line & vbcrlf & "=================="
Line = Line & vbcrlf & ""
Line = Line & vbcrlf & "Error " & err.number & "(0x" & hex(err.number) & ") " & err.description
Line = Line & vbcrlf & "Source " & err.source
Line = Line & vbcrlf & ""
Line = Line & vbcrlf & "HTTP Error " & File.Status & " " & File.StatusText
Line = Line & vbcrlf & File.getAllResponseHeaders
wscript.echo Line
Err.clear
wscript.quit
End If
On Error Goto 0
Set BS = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
BS.type = 1
BS.open
BS.Write File.ResponseBody
BS.SaveToFile "c:\users\safetyscanner.exe", 2