Forum Discussion
Internet Explorer Mode Flip-Flops Between On and Off
Not sure if this will help anyone, but one of the other things I discovered after much frustration was that if you add an enterprise site list or make any changes to it, Edge will take approximately 1-1.5 minutes to load the new list the next time it starts up.
You'll see an EmieSitelist.xml file pop into %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge[version]\User Data when it's loaded. Prepopulating this file unfortunately does not change this behavior.
To clarify as well, I noticed that even if I specify a sites list in Edge at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge, IE mode will not work properly unless the Enterprise Mode Sites List is configured for Internet Explorer at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\EnterpriseMode).
Interestingly, if you configure the sites list in Edge and then remove the list from your IE Enterprise Mode key or delete the key entirely, it will continue to work on that machine. It just won't work if you start with just the Edge key on a new machine.
Haven't tried this in group policy yet but I expect it would work the same.
I have noticed it behaves this way in every configuration I've tried except for enabling the Internet Explorer Enterprise Mode site list and pointing Edge to that list.
AndrewSAIF @Shilpa_Subramanian
Unfortunately using the Enterprise Mode List did not make a difference, it's still flipping back and forth between IE and Edge with every click. Strangely enough that I had to force update the list in edge://compat/enterprise in order for it to accept, it didn't import automatically. Attached I have the Internet Explorer mode diagnostics information found in edge://compat/iediagnostic, just in case it contains crucial information.
Not sure if this will help anyone, but one of the other things I discovered after much frustration was that if you add an enterprise site list or make any changes to it, Edge will take approximately 1-1.5 minutes to load the new list the next time it starts up.
You'll see an EmieSitelist.xml file pop into %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge[version]\User Data when it's loaded. Prepopulating this file unfortunately does not change this behavior.
To clarify as well, I noticed that even if I specify a sites list in Edge at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge, IE mode will not work properly unless the Enterprise Mode Sites List is configured for Internet Explorer at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\EnterpriseMode).
Interestingly, if you configure the sites list in Edge and then remove the list from your IE Enterprise Mode key or delete the key entirely, it will continue to work on that machine. It just won't work if you start with just the Edge key on a new machine.
Haven't tried this in group policy yet but I expect it would work the same.
- Shilpa_Subramanian
Microsoft
AndrewSAIF You can go to edge://compat/enterprise and click on the "Force Update" button to have site list XML changes reflected instantly.
AndrewSAIF GreatToHearFromYou Setting up a site list for Internet Explorer should not be required if you have enabled IE mode and are using this Edge policy - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-policies#internetexplorerintegrationsitelist.
When the Edge site list policy is enabled, it takes precedence over the IE site list.
Please let us know if you're still experiencing issues.
Another confirmation of this flip-flop behavior and fix using the "Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list" GPO policy.
In my case, I needed to:
- set the mentioned "Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list" GPO policy (I used the same file as for "Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List"; I didn't try removing the latter policy, both are set)
- restart the browser (only for stopping the flip-flop behavior, removing configuration for the "Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list" policy immediately restarts the behavior)
Thank you to AndrewSAIF and GreatToHearFromYou for the instructions!
This was a MAJOR help!! Thank you so much and it definitely got me into the right direction. However, besides enabling the Enterprise Mode IE List for Internet Explorer, I also had to enable "Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu" found in gpedit.msc here: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer. Once that was enabled as well, all worked as expected. To recap, below are the settings that need to be enabled in gpedit.msc:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge:
"Configure Internet Explorer integration" - enable and set to "Internet Explorer Mode"
"Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List" - enable and set to your xml file
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer:
"Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu" - enable
"Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list" - enable and set to your xml file
GreatToHearFromYou Shilpa_Subramanian
We configured the enterprise mode site list and it fixes this issue only on my machine (developer machine but treated as normal user machine). Whereas, it doesn't work on system admin's machine. The different between my account and system admin account is that, I have list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer that is managed by IT team. For my system admin, he has to manage his own trusted sites locally in Internet explorer. Still not sure what's causing the issue.
This diagnostic information is of my machine (account).
