Internet Explorer 11 Download
Martin Thrasher
Internet Explorer[a] (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer[b] and Windows Internet Explorer,[c] commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a retired series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were used in the Windows line of operating systems. While IE has been discontinued on most Windows editions, it remains supported on certain editions of Windows, such as Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC.[6] Starting in 1995, it was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year. Later versions were available as free downloads or in-service packs and included in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows. Microsoft spent over US$100 million per year on Internet Explorer in the late 1990s,[7] with over 1,000 people involved in the project by 1999.[8][9] New feature development for the browser was discontinued in 2016[10] and ended support on June 15, 2022 for Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC), in favor of its successor, Microsoft Edge.
Internet Explorer was once the most widely used web browser, attaining a peak of 95% usage share by 2003.[11] It has since fallen out of general use after retirement. This came after Microsoft used bundling to win the first browser war against Netscape, which was the dominant browser in the 1990s. Its usage share has since declined with the launches of Firefox (2004) and Google Chrome (2008) and with the growing popularity of mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS that do not support Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge, IE's successor, first overtook Internet Explorer in terms of market share in November 2019. Versions of Internet Explorer for other operating systems have also been produced, including an Xbox 360 version called Internet Explorer for Xbox and for platforms Microsoft no longer supports: Internet Explorer for Mac and Internet Explorer for UNIX (Solaris and HP-UX), and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile, made for Windows CE, Windows Phone, and, previously, based on Internet Explorer 7, for Windows Phone 7.
The browser has been scrutinized throughout its development for its use of third-party technology (such as the source code of Spyglass Mosaic, used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities, and the United States and the European Union have determined that the integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of fair browser competition.
Internet Explorer 7 was supported on Windows Embedded Compact 2013 until October 10, 2023.[12] The core of Internet Explorer 11 will continue being shipped and supported until at least 2029 as IE Mode, a feature of Microsoft Edge, enabling Edge to display web pages using Internet Explorer 11's Trident layout engine and other components.[13] Through IE Mode, the underlying technology of Internet Explorer 11 partially exists on versions of Windows that do not support IE11 as a proper application, including newer versions of Windows 10, as well as Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110.[14]
The Internet Explorer project was started in the summer of 1994 by Thomas Reardon,[15] who, according to former project lead Ben Slivka,[16] used source code from Spyglass, Inc. Mosaic, which was an early commercial web browser with formal ties to the pioneering National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Mosaic browser.[17][18] In late 1994, Microsoft licensed Spyglass Mosaic for a quarterly fee plus a percentage of Microsoft's non-Windows revenues for the software.[18] Although bearing a name like NCSA Mosaic, Spyglass Mosaic had used the NCSA Mosaic source code sparingly.[19]
The first version, dubbed Microsoft Internet Explorer, was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit in the Microsoft Plus! pack for Windows 95.[20] The Internet Explorer team began with about six people in early development.[19][21] Internet Explorer 1.5 was released several months later for Windows NT and added support for basic table rendering. By including it free of charge with their operating system, they did not have to pay royalties to Spyglass Inc, resulting in a lawsuit and a US$8 million settlement on January 22, 1997.[17][18]
Microsoft was sued by SyNet Inc. in 1996, for trademark infringement, claiming it owned the rights to the name "Internet Explorer."[22] It ended with Microsoft paying $5 million to settle the lawsuit.[23]
Internet Explorer 4 is the fourth major version of Internet Explorer, released in September 1997 for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, and HP-UX. It was the first version of Internet Explorer to use the Trident web engine.
Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major version of Internet Explorer, released on August 24, 2001, for Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME and as the default web browser for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
Internet Explorer 7 is the seventh major version of Internet Explorer, released on October 18, 2006, for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and as the default web browser for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. IE7 introduces tabbed browsing.
Internet Explorer 8 is the eighth major version of Internet Explorer, released on March 19, 2009, for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and as the default web browser for Windows 7 (later default was Internet Explorer 11) and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Internet Explorer 10 is the tenth major version of Internet Explorer, released on October 26, 2012, and is the default web browser for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. It became available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 in February 2013.
Internet Explorer 11 is featured in Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows RT 8.1, which was released on October 17, 2013. It includes an incomplete mechanism for syncing tabs. It is a major update to its developer tools,[26][27] enhanced scaling for high DPI screens,[28] HTML5 prerender and prefetch,[29] hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding,[30] closed captioning, HTML5 full screen,[31] and is the first Internet Explorer to support WebGL[32][33][34] and Google's protocol SPDY (starting at v3).[35] This version of IE has features dedicated to Windows 8.1, including cryptography (WebCrypto),[26] adaptive bitrate streaming (Media Source Extensions)[36] and Encrypted Media Extensions.[31]
Internet Explorer 11's user agent string now identifies the agent as "Trident" (the underlying browser engine) instead of "MSIE." It also announces compatibility with Gecko (the browser engine of Firefox).
Microsoft Edge was officially unveiled on January 21, 2015 as "Project Spartan."[40][41] On April 29, 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would replace Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows 10.[42] However, Internet Explorer remained the default web browser on the Windows 10 Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) and on Windows Server until 2021, primarily for enterprise purposes.[43][44][45][46]
Internet Explorer is still installed in Windows 10 to maintain compatibility with older websites and intranet sites that require ActiveX and other legacy web technologies.[40][41] The browser's MSHTML rendering engine also remains for compatibility reasons.
Additionally, Microsoft Edge shipped with the "Internet Explorer mode" feature, which enables support for legacy internet applications. This is possible through use of the Trident MSHTML engine, the rendering code of Internet Explorer.[47][48] Microsoft has committed to supporting Internet Explorer mode at least through 2029, with a one-year notice before it is discontinued.[49]
With the release of Microsoft Edge, the development of new features for Internet Explorer ceased. Internet Explorer 11 was the final release, and Microsoft began the process of deprecating Internet Explorer. During this process, it will still be maintained as part of Microsoft's support policies.[10]
Since January 12, 2016, only the latest version of Internet Explorer available for each version of Windows has been supported.[50][51] At the time, nearly half of Internet Explorer users were using an unsupported version.[52]
Various websites have dropped support for Internet Explorer. On June 1, 2020, the Internet Archive removed Internet Explorer from its list of supported browsers, due to the browser's dated nature.[54] Since November 30, 2020, the web version of Microsoft Teams can no longer be accessed using Internet Explorer 11, followed by the remaining Microsoft 365 applications since August 17, 2021.[55][56] WordPress also dropped support for the browser in July 2021.[57]
Microsoft disabled the normal means of launching Internet Explorer in Windows 11 and later versions of Windows 10,[58] but it is still possible for users to launch the browser from the Control Panel's browser toolbar settings or via PowerShell.[59]
On June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer 11 support ended for the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). Users on these versions of Windows 10 were redirected to Microsoft Edge starting on February 14, 2023, and visual references to the browser (such as icons on the taskbar) would have been removed on June 13, 2023. However, on May 19, 2023 various organizations disapproved, leading Microsoft to withdraw the change.[60][61]Other versions of Windows that were still supported at the time were unaffected. Specifically, Windows 7 ESU, Windows 8.x, Windows RT; Windows Server 2008/R2 ESU, Windows Server 2012/R2 and later; and Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC continued to receive updates until their respective end of life dates.[62][63][64][65]
On other versions of Windows, Internet Explorer will still be supported until their own end of support dates. IE7 was supported until October 10, 2023 alongside the end of support for Windows Embedded Compact 2013, while IE9 was supported until January 9, 2024 alongside the end of ESU support for Azure customers on Windows Server 2008.[51] Barring additional changes to the support policy, Internet Explorer 11 will be supported until January 13, 2032, concurrent with the end of support for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021.[66][51]
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