If you happen to be looking for Internet Explorer, either out of habit or to travel to a particularly obscure part of the web, you might not be able to find it.
Microsoft has completely removed the aging browser from Windows 11, and its end of supported life is arriving on June 15th 2022. But if you still need it, it’s most important bits are living on inside its successor: Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft Edge uses the same guts as Google’s Chrome browser, but it does also contain a compatibility mode where it can spin up the outdated “Trident” MSHTML browsing engine that Internet Explorer made use of. This can occasionally be useful if you’re looking at particularly ancient websites or doing something else weird.
How to use Microsoft Edge in Internet Explorer mode
Microsoft Edge will automatically load websites into Internet Explorer mode if they require it and your browser is configured to allow this behavior. You can check to see if it’s enabled (or enable it) like this:
- Click the three-dots menu button to the right of the address bar
- Go to “Settings”
- Select “Default Browser” from the side bar
- Toggle the option for “Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode” and restart your browser.
You can tell if a site has loaded in Internet Explorer mode by looking to the left of your address bar for a little Internet Explorer icon like this:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/media/ie-mode/ie-logo-indicator1.png