Turning off Compatibility View via Registry

Question

I would like to turn off Compatibility Mode for IE. I do not want to disable it.

For example, setting the following key to 9999.

REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION" /v "iexplore.exe" /t REG_DWORD /d 9999 /f
REG ADD "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION" /v "iexplore.exe" /t REG_DWORD /d 9999 /f

This overrides the settings.

I have also found that via GPO: Admin Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Compatibility View > Turn off Compatibility View does the same thing.

I just want it to be OFF by default, and the user has control to change it.

It would also be nice to grey out the option: Display all websites in Compatibility View

Solution 1

I used procmon to figure this out.

I was hoping for a solution in HKLM... but unfortunately this is a user preference.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\BrowserEmulation" /f /v AllSitesCompatibilityMode /t REG_DWORD /d "0"
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\BrowserEmulation" /f /v IntranetCompatibilityMode /t REG_DWORD /d "1"

So the way i would execute this is:

for /d %%X in (C:\Users\*) do (
reg.exe load HKLM\TempHive "%%X\NTUSER.DAT"
Reg Add "HKLM\TempHive\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\BrowserEmulation" /f /v AllSitesCompatibilityMode /t REG_DWORD /d "0"
Reg Add "HKLM\TempHive\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\BrowserEmulation" /f /v IntranetCompatibilityMode /t REG_DWORD /d "1"
reg.exe unload HKLM\TempHive )

I have to do a force log off to make sure the users NTUSER.DAT is not loaded. In my testing i had to run it at the logon screen.

Any other thoughts on deployment would be appreciated.

Solution 2

Paul,

I encourage you to check into using the Active Setup key.

In short, you can add a self-generated GUID to either:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components, or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components,

depending on your architecture.

Within this GUID key, add the following values:

(Default) REG_SZ <A name for your task>
Version REG_SZ <A version number for your task>
StubPath REG_SZ <The command you want each user to run>

Each user will run the command in the StubPath value once at logon. On subsequent logons, Windows will check the version number the logging-in user last ran against the Version key; if the Version key is higher the user will re-run the StubPath string.

Comments

[Paul Mung]

@nixda thanks for fixing my post! I'll do a better job moving forward. please excuse the noobness.

[G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica']

You say you're loading the default (user) profile, but I don't see you doing it.

[bwDraco]

We try to avoid short links here because the user doesn't know what the destination of the link is until he/she clicks through it.