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How to Reinstall Ie 11 on Windows 10

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So a strange situation has come up. Some of our users have to use a website that for whatever reason refuses to work in anything but Internet Explorer. Don't ask why. Instructions on the site itself still talk about Netscape Navigator so who knows how old this code is (and it's a government run website!). Anyway, I have one user with a Windows 10 Pro computer that doesn't have Internet Explorer 11.

I've checked the Programs and Features and the Windows Features to turn it on but it isn't listed in here.

I searched the computer and it didn't come up.

Finally, I checked the C drive, both Program Files (x86) and Program Files folders. Both have an Internet Explorer folder. Both seem to have everything normally found in those folders EXCEPT the all important iexplore.exe file.

I have no idea how this disappeared in both folders since you can't delete or move it without permission. Is there any possible way to get this back without having to reinstall Windows? I haven't checked another profile on the same machine to see if just deleting his profile and creating a new one would fix it. I'm just hoping for something easier but not feeling too hopeful at the moment.


momurda

How was this machines originally deployed?

It has been a day now, a format/reinstall would probably be the best thing.

162 Replies

NathM

what build of Windows 10 Pro?

Ross42.
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Feb 12, 2018 at 19:34 UTC

We have dozens of Win10 Pros, they all have IE11. Very strange.

Brandon4257

NathM wrote:

what build of Windows 10 Pro?

It is Build #: 15063.850

Brandon4257

Ross42. wrote:

We have dozens of Win10 Pros, they all have IE11. Very strange.

Same. I didn't even know it was that possible to get rid of it completely like this. I walked him through all the steps and then didn't think he was doing everything right so went to do it myself. And that iexplorer.exe just doesn't seem to exist for some reason on his computer.

Brian_Noga

This may help: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7a70bde8-5227-497e-9462-4715b9d60799/my-internet-e...

dism /online /disable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"
reboot
DEL /S /Q "%TMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%TEMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%WINDIR%\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\*.*"
then
dism /online /enable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"

kip130
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Feb 12, 2018 at 19:43 UTC

It should be under windows accessories.

NathM

kip130 wrote:

It should be under windows accessories.

"I've checked the Programs and Features and the Windows Features to turn it on but it isn't listed in here.

I searched the computer and it didn't come up.

Finally, I checked the C drive, both Program Files (x86) and Program Files folders. Both have an Internet Explorer folder. Both seem to have everything normally found in those folders EXCEPT the all important iexplore.exe file."

Carl Holzhauer
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Feb 12, 2018 at 19:51 UTC

Start > search for internet explorer ?

Austinmtlhd
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Feb 12, 2018 at 19:52 UTC

iexplore.exe at run command?

NathM

Austinmtlhd wrote:

iexplore.exe at run command?

"Finally, I checked the C drive, both Program Files (x86) and Program Files folders. Both have an Internet Explorer folder. Both seem to have everything normally found in those folders EXCEPT the all important iexplore.exe file."
Brandon4257

Brian_Noga wrote:

This may help: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7a70bde8-5227-497e-9462-4715b9d60799/my-internet-e...

dism /online /disable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"
reboot
DEL /S /Q "%TMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%TEMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%WINDIR%\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\*.*"
then
dism /online /enable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"

I was hopeful with this because that poster's issue sounded exactly like what I've run into on this one machine. But it didn't work. Both the /disable-feature and /enable-feature said it couldn't find Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64

Ross42.
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Feb 12, 2018 at 20:44 UTC

As painful as it is, have you called Microsoft support? I wonder what they'd have to say about it.

I always like taggingChris (Microsoft) with weird issues like this. Who knows what horrors he's seen?

NathM

Brandon4257 wrote:

Brian_Noga wrote:

This may help: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7a70bde8-5227-497e-9462-4715b9d60799/my-internet-e...

dism /online /disable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"
reboot
DEL /S /Q "%TMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%TEMP%\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%WINDIR%\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
DEL /S /Q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\*.*"
then
dism /online /enable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"

I was hopeful with this because that poster's issue sounded exactly like what I've run into on this one machine. But it didn't work. Both the /disable-feature and /enable-feature said it couldn't find Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64

It doesn't work because this is the command line version of the thing you tried from the UI, which also didn't work.

My suggestion is try taking a Feature Update to the next version of Windows 10 (v1703->v1709) and see if your IE comes back.

NathM

rburch wrote:

I almost wonder if you'll have to do a Windows repair. I hope not! Have you tried this link? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/18520/download-internet-explorer-11-offline-installer

those are download links for IE11 on Win7/Win2008 era systems where it wasn't built in already.

SaoirseTouring

That's darn odd. I'm staring at a new, clean install (in a lab) of RS3 that very clearly has IE (11.850.15063.0).

It IS hidden, for sure, but I just use the search and type "iexplorer.exe" (actually, it auto-finishes for me, so I never type the whole thing). What kind of build are you using? Is it a standard build? Standard meaning not the LTSB or something like that? My machine is simply a clean install of RS3 with all subsequent updates. My corporate box has RS1 and also includes IE.

Brandon4257

NathM wrote:

It doesn't work because this is the command line version of the thing you tried from the UI, which also didn't work.

My suggestion is try taking a Feature Update to the next version of Windows 10 (v1703->v1709) and see if your IE comes back.

I'll try that when the user gets a chance and I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

Brandon4257

SaoirseTouring wrote:

That's darn odd. I'm staring at a new, clean install (in a lab) of RS3 that very clearly has IE (11.850.15063.0).

It IS hidden, for sure, but I just use the search and type "iexplorer.exe" (actually, it auto-finishes for me, so I never type the whole thing). What kind of build are you using? Is it a standard build? Standard meaning not the LTSB or something like that? My machine is simply a clean install of RS3 with all subsequent updates. My corporate box has RS1 and also includes IE.

It's a standard build. At least as far as being pre-installed from Lenovo goes. But we got a couple dozen, all the same. All have IE 11. And I'm sure this one did at some point. I have no idea how it's not there. On another machine, I can't even move the iexplore.exe file let alone delete it because I don't have permission, even with an Administrator account.

RealM
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Feb 12, 2018 at 23:06 UTC

Not that it's gonna be terribly useful, but out of curiosity, I just googled "missing iexplore.exe windows 10" and it came up with 250,000 results..  I've looked at the first dozen results or so, and so far, none came up with anything useful that you haven't tried already (or that have been suggested before me)

JohnLF
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Feb 13, 2018 at 10:53 UTC

Got another working machine?  I would try copying the contents of the Internet Explorer folder from a working PC to the non-working one and seeing if it works.  Hopefully it is just a few files deleted and all the reg entries still exist.

Roger8984

Could your AV have got a bit trigger happy and removed the EXEs for some reason?

I would agree with others that copying the files back from a working machine isn't a bad starting place.

Just copying iexplore.exe to both Program Files folders for a start and go from there

Jesse7963
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Feb 13, 2018 at 12:53 UTC

You aren't alone! I had the same exact issue with a user here when we updated them to Windows 10. The .exe was missing completely. I believe we just copied the .exe from another computer though. Unfortunately we're in the same boat in that a legacy app can only run on Internet Explorer for some reason.

To me it seems like it has something to do with the install of Windows 10. When we get some free time we're scheduled to swap out their computer and reinstall Windows 10 to see if that fixes it.

Denver Fan

Does it show under the magic Windows Features?

Chris (Microsoft)

Brand Representative for Microsoft

Brandon4257 wrote:

NathM wrote:

It doesn't work because this is the command line version of the thing you tried from the UI, which also didn't work.

My suggestion is try taking a Feature Update to the next version of Windows 10 (v1703->v1709) and see if your IE comes back.

I'll try that when the user gets a chance and I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

Let us know if this works...

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How to Reinstall Ie 11 on Windows 10

Source: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2112706-any-way-to-get-internet-explorer-11-back-on-a-windows-10-pro-machine