Last Updated on February 25, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

The following tutorial demonstrates how to enable and disable Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer 11 in Windows 10.

Although Microsoft had developed a newer web browser, Internet Explorer was still available to use in Windows 10 when users made the upgrade; and in fact, IE 11 is still available to be opened today if you were to search for it from the search box in the taskbar.

IE being available is important for some people because many had gotten to know it over the years and still enjoyed using it. At some point those people will have to make the switch over to a newer browser such as Microsoft Edge however because the development of IE 11 has stopped, i.e., the IE browser has been discontinued. This will eventually lead to incompatibility problems as you always need to update a browser so that it works with the newer software that is attempting to be shown on it. There’s also the chance it will become a security risk as well.

But for the time being, there’s nothing wrong with using IE 11. Due to its popularity, it’s not uncommon for Windows users to open it up and check it out or use it as a second or third browser for some tasks they wish to be separated from their main daily browser. And there are some advantages to IE 11: websites tend to appear closer up when viewing from laptops than some alternatives, no toolbars are taking up unnecessary screen real estate, and it has tabs beneath the address bar which is unique to modern browsers for no particular reason.

Internet Explorer comes with an Enterprise Mode which aims to reduce the compatibility problems enterprises have when switching between software versions by rendering websites to emulate either Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8. This means with Enterprise Mode on, Internet Explorer 11 will not be as reliant on other software being compatible for it; provided the software is compatible for Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8.

How to Enable/Disable Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer 11 via Group Policy in Windows 10

You can enable and disable the Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer 11 from the Local Group Policy Editor when using a version of the Windows 10 operating system. Here is how to do that:

Note: The Local Group Policy Editor is only available for Windows 10 Pro and above editions of the operating system, meaning Windows 10 Home users can’t use this tutorial.

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor from your version of Windows 10 Pro or above edition. Here are all the ways in which you can open the Local Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 so you can start making changes to group policy settings: How to Open Local Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 [Tutorial].

2. Using the left side pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate through to the following folders:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer

3. With the Internet Explorer folder expanded, click on the Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu from the right side of the same window.

Group Policy: Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from Tools menu

4. With the Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu policy window open, select either Not Configured (to disable Enterprise Mode), Enabled (to enable Enterprise Mode), or Disabled (to disable Enterprise Mode), and then click on the OK button at the bottom of the policy window to save the changes.

Note: You may need to close the Internet Explorer browser and reopen it again before the changes take effect.

Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu policy

In conclusion, that is how to enable and disable Enterprise Mode in Windows 10. While it may seem an annoyance that this isn’t available to Windows 10 Home users, those are not typically the people to who this particular feature is targetted (given that it is with regards to an Enterprise Mode). Although there are perhaps some Home users who would have still enjoyed this feature. If you are one of them, you should look into upgrading to Windows 10 Pro — it’s the cheapest option to make this feature available to you.

(This article was last updated on September 26, 2021.)

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