I can't start Internet Explorer 11, always Edge is opened in Windows 10

Question

I have to test a product on Internet Explorer but when I try to start it always Edge browser is opened. I tried to set IE as default browser but did not help. I try to set Chrome or Firefox as default but also not help. I tried to uninstall then reinstall IE component from 'Uninstall programs - Turns windows feature on or off' but also did not help. I have upgraded my Windows to Version 1909 x64 but also before this update the problem existed. I am using a Dell Latitude E5470 laptop. I also search the IE and Edge group policy settings but I don't find anything which help solving this problem. Your suggestions, ideas and help would be very appreciated. Thanks.

Hulking

Can you please inform us how did you start the IE browser? By double click on IE browser exe? or from your development software? Try to provide the detailed steps for producing the issue. Are you using the MS Edge legacy browser or MS Edge Chromium browser? Are you able to launch the IE browser manually? – Ynes

Hi I start IE by searching with cortana or from c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe. I found the solution: In the registry go to this path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\EnterpriseMode and set RestrictIE value from 1 to 0. – Hulking

Thanks for sharing the solution to the issue. I suggest you post your solution as an answer for this thread and try to mark your own answer as an answer to this question after 48 hrs when it is available to mark. It can help other community members in the future in similar kinds of issues. Thanks for your understanding – Ynes

Answer 1

For me, I was able to fix the behavior by searching for "Internet Explorer Compatibility" in the Edge settings panel. Then setting the "Open Sites in Edge" setting to "Never."

Conoid

Answer 2

I have had a similar behavior in Windows 10 20H2 (As of writing this answer, the latest Windows 10 build so far). I had a scheduled task which opens a website at a given time, the command there is:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" https://some.webiste.com

After upgrading to 20H2 it always opened in Edge, also manually browsing to that website was redirected to Edge.

I found a setting in Internet Explorer under Internet Options -> Advanced Tab -> Browsing section -> Uncheck Enable third party extensions.

Note: This might need a restart to take effect and disable also other extensions but unfortunately as of this day there seems to be no other options to browse a website in IE which needs IE for one or the other reason.

Edit:

This behavior I was experiencing seems to be a DLL (ie_to_edge_bho.dll) file which comes with Edge and is being installed in IE. There is a static list of websites which get automatically redirected to Edge. Disabling this extension is greyed out and not supported out of the box, other than disabling all extensions via the option described above.

Our

Really a life saver @josibu! Appreciate it. – Mckinley

Answer 3

This setting lets you decide whether to open all sites not included in the Enterprise Mode Site List in Microsoft Edge. If you use this setting, you must also turn on the Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list policy setting and you must include at least one site in the Enterprise Mode Site List.

Enabling this setting automatically opens all sites not included in the Enterprise Mode Site List in Microsoft Edge.

Disabling, or not configuring this setting, opens all sites based on the currently active browser.

Note: If you've also enabled the Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Edge\Send all intranet sites to Internet Explorer 11 policy setting, then all intranet sites will continue to open in Internet Explorer 11.

https://admx.help/?Category=Windows_10_2016&Policy=Microsoft.Policies.InternetExplorer::RestrictInternetExplorer

Ardy

Answer 4

The problem was with 20H2(Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise ver 10.0.19042) when I received the same complaint from multiple users.

So this has been sorted out using below registry fix as mentioned by @alpar

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\EnterpriseMode and set RestrictIE value from 1 to 0

Arkansas

Answer 5

For me, the correct answer was the one provided by @josibu.

I was trying to use the performance profiler in Visual Studio 2019 for a Web project. For this function, there is no way to convince Visual Studio 2019 to use anything other than Internet Explorer. Even on Windows 11, it tries to run iexplore.exe when no such program exists. For those machines that do have Internet Explorer installed, but crippled by Microsoft, disable third party extension, as directed by @josibu.

You may get a message that the setting will not take effect until you restart your system. In my case, this was not needed. The change worked after I simply closed Internet Explorer.

Particularly

Answer 6

None of the above suggestions worked for me, what worked was this:

Create a VBS file with the following content:

Set oIE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application") 

oIE.Visible = True 

oIE.Navigate "about:blank" 'put your URL of choice here

Save it as LaunchIE.vbs. Run it (double click) and it will open IE.

Expulsion