Windows 10 October update disables Internet Explorer 11

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Windows 10 October update disables Internet Explorer 11

I have a need to use Internet Explorer 11 – not Edge in Internet Explorer mode – with Windows 10 occasionally.

Unfortunately, after installing the October cumulative update (5031356), Internet Explorer will no longer launch.

I have Edge “blocked”, using EdgeBlock, because I use and prefer Firefox.

When I attempt to open Internet Explorer it looks like it’s trying to launch Edge, but fails because Edge is blocked.

That’s fine, because I don’t want to use Edge.

But I do want to use Internet Explorer 11 from time to time, so does anyone have a method for circumventing whatever is blocking it?

 

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AusJohn wrote:

does anyone have a method for circumventing whatever is blocking it?

Try these tricks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpUFp87aNS0

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/internet-explorer-11-desktop-app-retirement-faq/ba-p/2366549

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Thanks Alex5723 – unfortunately no joy in either of those two links, as far as I can see.

 

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Alex5723

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https://nosamu.medium.com/how-to-get-internet-explorer-back-on-windows-10-and-11-in-2023-bdb632299822

Tested. I got this.

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Cybertooth

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Thanks a million Alex5723.  Still testing, but seems to work fine with the few web pages that I need to access using Internet Explorer.

Strange, but occasionally the right scroll bar ‘disappears’; however, I can live with that.

I had done what I thought was an extensive search on the topic, but obviously I didn’t use all the necessary words, or combination of  them, or both.

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Alex5723

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worked great for me thanks

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The IE11 desktop suggestion worked fine.
https://nosamu.medium.com/how-to-get-internet-explorer-back-on-windows-10-and-11-in-2023-bdb632299822

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Like @AusJohn, I still have a need to use MSIE11 to support several businesses that still use it for “in-house” processes.

I’ve been using the following registry entries to prevent the MSIE to Edge redirect mode since Microsoft switched it “ON” back in Feb.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge\IEToEdge]
"RedirectionMode"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ext\CLSID]
"{1FD49718-1D00-4B19-AF5F-070AF6D5D54C}"="0"

Haven’t installed the Win10 Oct KB5031356 update yet, but so far those keys have worked to allow MSIE11 to launch as expected.

BTW, I created an MSIE11 shortcut that points directly to the iexplore.exe program (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe) to replace the default one that used a Windows “launch” routine to start it.

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AusJohn, Cybertooth

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FYI…

Just installed Win10 Oct KB5031356 update and, as noted by others, it disabled MSIE (i.e. when I tried to run MSIE11 I got the following popup with the only option being to continue – which starts Edge in IE mode.)

I reinstalled the above registry entries and MSIE11 now launches normally again!

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Thanks @n0ads.  That’s really handy to know, especially if the @Alex5723 workaround fails for any reason.

 

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Hello! I have tried to apply your changes, but i still cant lauch iexplore.exe. Maybe i am doing something wrong? have you made any other changes? do you have pictures of your applied registry changes?
BR

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It seems the change that prevents MSIE from starting wasn’t actually part of the Oct CU update but the Edge update from version 117 to 118.

I have Edge set to only allow manual updates and, after I recently update from Edge v117.0.2045.60 to v118.0.2088.69, MSIE also stopped opening for me.

I created my own special vbscript to open it using the CreateObject option listed in the Try these tricks link posted by Alex5723, with the addition of some AutoIt commands to customize how it opens, and it’s working again.

Like what Les posted below, if I “manually” enter a site into the address bar, it’ll open in MSIE but, unlike him, my favorites do still work… although they open in Edge instead of MSIE!

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n0ads wrote:

I have Edge set to only allow manual updates…

So how, pray tell, do you do that?? I haven’t noticed any such setting within the myriad of settings within Edge proper. Is it accomplished via Group Policy?? If so, exactly where within GP?

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I have Edge updates ‘disabled’, in preference to ‘manual’, and did it by setting the 3 Edge update tasks listed in Task Manager to ‘disabled’, and the 2 Edge update entries in services.msc to ‘disabled’.

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You may well be correct, but I have my doubts that what you’ve explained is correct in my case.

Why? Because I have Edge updates disabled, and as far as I can ascertain the latest version of Edge installed on my Windows 10 desktop computer is 91.0.864.37 (circa May 2021), found at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\91.0.864.37

And, as you’re aware, Internet Explorer 11 was working normally until I installed the October 2023 cumulative update.

Like both you and Les, if I “manually” enter a site into the address bar, it’ll open in MSIE 11.

Like Les, but unlike you, my favorites don’t work in MSIE 11. They don’t even open in Edge instead of MSIE, but that’s because Edge is disabled.

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what version of ms edge webview2 runtime are you on?

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Version 91.0.864.37

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Ok, here’s my settings to disable Edge auto-update while still allowing me to “manually” update it when I want to.

Open Task Scheduler and Disable both of the Microsoft Edge Update tasks.

• Note: if you delete them, they’ll get recreated the next time Edge gets updated but, if they’re disabled, they’ll stay disabled.

Open Services and set the following options:

• Microsoft Edge Elevation Service (MicrosoftEdgeElevationService) – Manual
• Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdate) – Disabled
• Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdatem) – Manual (Trigger Start)

Note: if you disable all 3 services, you won’t be able to “manually” update Edge.

I also have the following settings in Group Policy but am not sure if they really matter or not as setting the equivalent Google services to the same settings as above also prevents Google from auto-updating while still allowing it to be manually updated.

Under Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge Update > Applications > Edge set the following options:

• Prevent Desktop Shortcut creation upon install – Disabled
• Update policy override – Enabled and set to Manual updates only

Under Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Edge set the following options:

• Allow Microsoft Edge to per-launch at Windows startup, when the system is idle, and each time Microsoft Edge is closed – Enabled and set to Prevent per-launching
• Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed – Enabled and set to Prevent tab pre-loading

These settings prevent Edge from auto-starting and auto-updating on my Windows 10 PC.

To “manually” update Edge, I open Edge > Settings > About Microsoft Edge and it initiates a update check and installs the “latest update” if one’s available.

Note: on my PC Edge sometimes throws an error when it reaches the 66% complete mark during the update process.

It seems to be a 50/50 chance of it occurring during update attempts and I’m not sure exactly what causes it (like a lot of MS error messages, the description of the problem doesn’t really help), but simply closing Edge and then restarting the manual update always works.

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I don’t think so. I have Edge fully removed from the computer using Revo uninstaller and IE still won’t launch.

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Same situation here – I’ve made the registry changes, but MSIE still won’t launch except when I use the IE11 desktop suggestion from:

https://nosamu.medium.com/how-to-get-internet-explorer-back-on-windows-10-and-11-in-2023-bdb632299822

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after install 2023-10 cumulative update you cannot open IE 11

you just need to uninstall KB5031356

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Joe wrote:

after install 2023-10 cumulative update you cannot open IE 11

you just need to uninstall KB5031356

No, you don’t :

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/windows-10-october-update-disables-internet-explorer-11/#post-2594557

Uninstalling a CU is futile because next months CUs will contain all previous CUs and add some, unless you uninstall and stop updating all CUs until EOL.

Stand alone IE is gone forever.

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AusJohn

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Thanks Internet Explorer now open but the set Home page is missing and my Favourites no longer open the associated web pages. They will open if I type the url in though. Hope someone has a solution

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Les wrote:

Thanks Internet Explorer now open but the set Home page is missing and my Favourites no longer open the associated web pages. They will open if I type the url in though. Hope someone has a solution

You can put a homepage URL in quotes (including a URL scheme) in between the parentheses after “open” in the shortcut command.

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Internet Explorer 11 is still working for me on my Windows 10 desktop and laptop – using mshta.exe javascript:open();close() – but there are several annoyances which I would like to be able to “fix” if it’s possible. Namely:

1. Moving the window isn’t remembered; that is, on next use it opens in the old position.

2. Resizing the window isn’t remembered; that is, on next use it opens the same size as previously.

3. Maximising the window isn’t remembered; that is, on next use it opens the same size as previously.

4. On opening IE11 the cursor isn’t visible; I have to click in the Address bar to start typing an URL.

5. Favorites no longer work; that is, I click on a Favorite and nothing happens.

If anyone has a fix, or workaround, for any or all of these annoyances, I would love to know.

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You can solve items 1 – 4 by using a combination of the following vbscript & AutoIt to open Internet Explorer.

' Enable Object Commands for VBscript & AutoIt
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oAutoIt = WScript.CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")

' Open Internet Explorer 11
CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application").Visible=true

' Set AutoIt windows title match option to "EXACT"
oAutoIt.Opt "WinTitleMatchMode", 3

' Maximize MSIE11 window & activate it
oAutoIt.WinSetState "Internet Explorer", "", oAutoIt.SW_MAXIMIZE
oAutoIt.WinActivate "Internet Explorer"

' Set focus to address bar
WshShell.SendKeys "%D"

The oAutoIt commands in the script bring the MSIE11 window to the front, maximize it, and set the focus (i.e. cursor) to the address bar.

Note: AutoIt has other options for controlling the Window size and position but my preference is to have it maximized.

I created a shortcut to the vbscript that I use to start MSIE and, so far, it still works.

As for the Favorites & Bookmarks…

Whatever Microsoft did during their last update to disable MSIE now prevents them from working, even if you disable the MSIE ⇒ Edge redirection they put in place, so now you have to manually enter an address to get it to open in MSIE.

2 users thanked author for this post.

AusJohn, Cybertooth

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Thanks for the detailed information.

I’m not familiar with using AutoIt or vbscript, but I’ll certainly give your suggestion a go when I get some time to give it my full attention.

Knowing my capabilities, there’ll be a steep learning curve. 🙂

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Well, I’ve had a go at doing this but, as I expected, I failed miserably.

What I’ve done is:

1. Download and install AutoIt

2. Copy @n0ads code into a text editor, and save it as test-ie.vbs

3. Double-click on test-ie.vbs (or right-click on it and click ‘Open’), which results in an error, as shown below.

I’ve done some searching on the internet, and with my limited knowledge it appears that the error may be due to the fact that “Virtualization-based security” is not enabled.

System information (below) shows my setting for it.

Further reading has just left me confused, and not confident to try anything else at this stage.

If some kind soul can give me a bit (or, probably a lot) of help, then I’m willing to persevere; otherwise, I’ll continue using IE11 “as is” and put up with the annoyances.

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Actually, it looks like for some reason the AutoItX3.Control class which provides the I/F between AutoIt and processes that call it wasn’t properly registered when you installed AutoIt.

To manually register it, open an elevated cmd.exe prompt (i.e. Run as administrator) and enter the following:

regsvr32 "full path to AutoItX3_x64.dll"

If you installed AutoIt in the default location, the command would be:

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\AutoItX\AutoItX3_x64.dll"

Press Enter and you “should” see a message similar to this:

With the text indicting “DllRegisterService in C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\AutoItX\AutoItX3_x64.dll suceeded”.

Your script should now work.

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AusJohn

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Thank you so much, @n0ads, for taking the time to offer more feedback.

When I installed AutoIt it seemed to be suggesting that I should choose the 32-bit option, for compatibility reasons, even though I’m running a 64-bit machine.

So I took their ‘advice’ and installed the 32-bit option to C:\Program Files (x86)\.

When I read your comments I figured you were pretty much on the ball, and decided there wasn’t any point trying to register the 64-bit .dll, so uninstalled AutoIt and reinstalled it as a 64-bit program to C:\Program Files\.

Voila! Worked almost like you described, except for the fact that focus wasn’t set to the address bar. Disappointing, but I thought I could live with it.

Then I decided maybe I can’t, so went looking for a fix or workaround.

Once IE11 is running I can press Alt-D (the equivalent of your WshShell.SendKeys “%D”) and the cursor shows in the address bar, so I didn’t have any idea why the code wasn’t doing what it’s supposed to do.

At first, after doing some searching on the internet, I tried a delay, like WScript.Sleep 2500 before WshShell.SendKeys “%D”.

That didn’t help, so I tried something else:

For i = 1 to 10
WshShell.SendKeys “%D”
Next

To my amazement, it worked! That is, it now sets the focus to the address bar.

Also, once I had it working I decided to tweak it a bit because I didn’t want it maximized if it was avoidable.

So instead of using oAutoIt.WinSetState as you did, I’ve used oAutoIt.WinMove which allowed me to set both the position on the screen, and the size of the window.

Very happy, and thank you once again for all your help; most appreciated.

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On my PC, there is a noticeable delay before the cursor actually appears in the address bar (but only slight more than a sec) so I’m surprised you had to setup what’s basically a timing loop to get it to work?

Maybe a difference in CPU clock speeds (my runs at 4.9 GHz).

I knew about the AutoIt.WinMove command but, since I preferred MSIE to start maximized, didn’t use it. Glad to see you figured it out.

How if only we could figure what MS did to disable the MSIE Favorites and get them reactivated?

I know it’s not something they changed in the Internet Explorer folder itself because I restored both the x86 and x64 versions from my Jan 2023 backup and MSIE was still hamstrung.

Like many others on the internet, I suspect it has something to do with the new ie_to_edge_bho.dll that was added during the Oct update but, so far, no one’s been able to figure out how to disable it from working (even renaming all versions of it on a PC to ie_to_edge_bho.dll.DISABLED doesn’t restore full MSIE functionality.)

Anyway, glad I could help!

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