Still using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10? It will be disabled in February 2023
Microsoft plans to disable the company's Internet Explorer 11 web browser from certain Windows operating systems in February 2023. The company plans to disable Internet Explorer 11 on these systems, so that it can't be reactivated and used anymore afterwards.
The cumulative security updates for February 2023 will disable Internet Explorer 11 permanently on certain Windows operating systems. The second Patch Day of the year 2023 will disable the browser on Windows 10 devices.
Internet Explorer 11 may also be used on earlier versions of Windows, but Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will run out of support in January 2023. Without these in support, it is Windows 10 that Microsoft is focusing its efforts on.
The company confirms the decision on this website and also in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
The retired, out-of-support Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application will be permanently disabled on certain versions of Windows 10 as part of the February 2023 Windows security update ("B") release scheduled for February 14, 2023. We highly recommend setting up IE mode in Microsoft Edge and disabling IE11 prior to this date to ensure your organization doesn't experience business disruption.
Any calls to Internet Explorer 11 will be redirected to the Microsoft Edge web browser automatically at this point, according to Microsoft.
Internet Explorer 11 support ended on June 15, 2022 officially and the first phase of retirement began. Internet Explorer 11 remained on the system in that phase, but calls to Internet Explorer were redirected to Microsoft Edge. The second phase would see the uninstallation of Internet Explorer 11 components from the system, but Microsoft did not provide a deadline for that until now.
Microsoft plans to release an optional update for Windows 10 and Windows 11 on January 17, 2023; this optional non-security update will remove Internet Explorer 11 from the Windows machine it is installed on. Then, on February 14, 2023, Internet Explorer will be removed automatically as part of the February Patch Day. The optional update removes the components early, but the Patch Day updates will remove it for all supported systems.
Microsoft created Internet Explorer Mode in Microsoft Edge to provide organizations and home users with options to load content that requires Internet Explorer technology. Especially organizations may operate content that requires certain Internet Explorer technologies. IE Mode in Edge is designed to load that content.
The removal of Internet Explorer 11 won't remove all components of the browser from the system. While it can't be run anymore, some of its components may still be required by programs on the operating system.
Now You: when was the last time you used Internet Explorer? (via Dr. Windows)
LTSC editions of Win10 are still exempt from the IE11 permanent disable Feb. 2023 patches.
guess that’s why I still use an LTSC W10 version; IE11 on W10 LTSC will continue to function, even with the Feb 2023 & newer updates.
but for supported non-LTSC Win10 versions, IE11 will soon meet its end
Very interesting info! This means that LTSC editions are considered more important in some way.
This truly is the end of an era, for a Microsoft product as well-known as Internet Explorer to be retired. And so soon too. I hope that people are ready for the change. I wonder which browser most IE 11 users will migrate to?
The WMP 12 wants ActiveX plugin to find album art info from musicmatch.com..who knows when microsoft would shut down the website..
But Internet Explorer!!! :O
The best browser in the world coming to an end?
But what about the amazing Active-X technologies and HTML5 standards?? lol
Happy that I’m not affected by staying on Windows 8.1 (Pro) as I do not like Microsoft dictating to me that IE must be removed and Edge installed/used instead. I consider Edge spyware and will never install it on my systems (same with Windows 10/11)! Edge is installed on our work computers that run Windows 10 Enterprise. But I try to avoid using it all costs, which is relatively easy anyway as Chrome is the company’s default web browser now.
Wait, you trust Chrome, but not Edge? Edge is spyware and Chrome is not?
“This other browser is spyware so edge being spyware too is okay”. Good reply retard.
I do not trust either but these are work computers that run Windows 10 Enterprise (managed by our IT department) where Chrome and Edge are the web browsers that work with all our applications (internal/Intranet and Internet). Firefox ESR is an option also but it does not work on all applications so I choose the lesser of two evils in Chrome which seems to work much better, uses less resources and does not always attempt to take over my computer like Edge does any time it’s launched.
To be clear, my personal systems running Windows 8.1 are under my full control and only have Firefox ESR as my primary web browser with ungoogled chromium as a secondary for just a few trusted websites.
Off topic, I tested almost every website that claims “to be able to detect” the OS you are currently running and no one was able to detect that my mother’s system is W11, all of them said W10. Why is so difficult to detect a W11, how to they do the statistics about the OS usage? :[
See https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/learn/browser-detection/user-agents/detect-windows-11-user-agent
@Anonymous thanks!
Unfortunately, some goverment sites still require IE11 at the end of 2022 and there is no planning for them to migrate to FF/Chrome. Edge has currently a very usefel IE11 mode, however all the ActiveX and Java applets are not longer supported anyway. Luckily, my always old fashion father has W7 running IE11 for several official sites, so his computer is considered here “the family computer” because we all need it sometimes for goverment related tasks. I am thinking that it would be an useful idea to have a virtual machine with W7 and IE11 in my W10 too. Thanks for the article.
I do wonder about government sites still requiring old browsers. Is this a specifically Asian thing, by any chance? I know that Japanese government websites are a culprit – are there any others?
@ShintoPlasm
Not specifically Japanese, but many old banks like ICBC are still using IE for the ActiveX. Remember that they are many small indie banks that can’t afford to develop new system, Microsoft is so cruel retiring this.
If they can’t afford to keep up with modern browser security standards, you can’t afford to risk giving your money to them. You should never trust any bank that is asking you to use an unsupported outdated browser full of security holes. Who knows what their backend will be like.
Still necessary in some cases on Brazil. As long as they keep IE opening by “internet options”, as we do in windows 11, I can live with it,.
@SinthoPlasm there are some goverment sites around the world that still needs IE11.
I still use IE and W7 for legacy software and devices, be nice if m$ would actually do something useful and release an uninstaller for Edge.