Internet Explorer 11 is Being Retired Today

It’s been a long time coming, but Microsoft is officially retiring Internet Explorer 11 today. The web browser has been around for 25 years, and it’s definitely been an important part of the Internet’s history.

Internet Explorer 11 was initially released in October 2013, and the web browser is still included on Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and various versions of Windows Server. Windows 11, however, only ships with Microsoft Edge, which comes with a built IE Mode for web developers.

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“Over the next few months, opening Internet Explorer will progressively redirect users to our new modern browser,” explained today Sean Lyndersay, General Manager, Microsoft Edge Enterprise. In a future Windows update, Internet Explorer will be disabled permanently on Windows 10 PCs where it’s still available.

Microsoft will actually continue to support Internet Explorer on Windows 10 LTSC releases, Windows 10 China Government Edition, all Windows Server versions, as well as Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 with Extended Security Updates (ESUs). However, Microsoft strongly encourages these users to switch to the IE mode in Microsoft Edge, which will be supported through at least 2029.

With IE mode, Microsoft Edge offers unmatched compatibility for the Internet, whether the website was built 10 years or 10 days ago. The future of Internet Explorer is in Microsoft Edge, giving you a faster, more secure, and more modern browser,” Lyndersay said today.

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Conversation 11 comments

  • RobotRaccoon

    Premium Member
    15 June, 2022 - 9:08 am

    <p>partying face emoji</p>

  • Thretosix

    15 June, 2022 - 10:13 am

    <p>I’m not sure what to think about this. A lot of legacy stuff still runs in IE Mode and that has a been a hot mess for some of my clients with settings getting reset frequently in Edge that is causing lots of productivity issues. Much like Windows 11.</p>

    • ralfred

      Premium Member
      15 June, 2022 - 1:48 pm

      <p>Organisations that’s still heavily relying on IE technology should probably start blaming themselves. </p>

  • LT1 Z51

    Premium Member
    15 June, 2022 - 1:08 pm

    <p>The only reason I use CrEdge for my Work sites is because of IEMode and the "auto list" policy our admins pushed out to make it switch modes without me caring.</p><p><br></p><p>I use FireFox for my actual "personal" web browsing on my Work PC.</p>

  • bluvg

    15 June, 2022 - 1:39 pm

    <p>Let’s have a moment of joyous indifference or rapturous schadenfreude.</p>

  • ebraiter

    15 June, 2022 - 4:41 pm

    <p>I use IE mode for Edge at work for 2 issues and they are really dumb: SharePoint only accepts IE for using the File Explorer in it and SCOM 2012 R2 will only accept IE [last I checked]. The latter will disappear next year.</p>

  • Informed

    15 June, 2022 - 11:41 pm

    <p>One advantage of IE over other browsers: Unlimited independent sessions (File –&gt; New Session). Often ignored, but very useful for the few that have a use for it. As far as not being signed in goes (or signing in to multiple accounts/sessions on the same site), it’s like multiple incognito windows completely independent of each other.</p><p><br></p><p>Modern browsers only allow 2 sessions max (default and incognito). Obviously it’s not to the advantage of Google to normalize blank-slate non-logged-in sessions.</p>

    • nerdile

      Premium Member
      17 June, 2022 - 1:15 am

      <p>Chrome and Edge (and probably others) let you create as many separate Profiles as you want. You just have to click the little person icon in the upper-right corner and pick New Profile.</p>

  • sydney2k

    16 June, 2022 - 1:28 am

    <p>Farewell Inori Aizawa!</p>

  • dftf

    16 June, 2022 - 4:23 pm

    <p>To remove the "iexplore.exe" executable from a <em>Windows 10 </em>install, bring up "Programs and Features" (in the old <em>Control Panel</em>) and then click "Turn Windows features on or off" and you can untick it there.</p><p><br></p><p>You can also remove the old <em>Windows Media Player </em>and <em>XPS Virtual Printer</em> if you wish, too. And if you log in on a local admin account, then go into <em>Settings</em>, then <em>Apps</em>, then click "Optional features", you can even remove stuff like <em>Notepad</em> and <em>WordPad</em> if you want!</p>

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