Cannot get Selenium Webdriver working with Internet Explorer 11 using Java.

[martinrb...@gmail.com]

I am trying to get Selenium Webdriver working with Internet Explorer 11 using Java.
Firefox and Chrome are OK
I have ploughed through a lot of online suggestions but so far no success.
So, sorry for the amount of detail here, but hopefully it will avoid the need for a long thread.

The versions are:
 Selenium 3.0.1
 Java jdk 1.8.0_45
 Selenium IE Webdriver IEDriverServer_Win32_3.0.0
 IE 11.0.9600.18637 Update Version 11.0.38 KB 3203621
 Windows 7 Enterprise SP1

My IE Settings are:
 Registry
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE
   iexplore DWORD 0
  There is no FEATURE_BFACHE for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl
  This is as per Selenium documentation although it does seem strange that the 64-bit key is sent when using the 32-bit driver ad vice-versa
 IE Tools/Options/Security
  Internet - Enable Protected Mode option unchecked
  Local Intranet - Enable Protected Mode option unchecked
  Trusted Sites - Enable Protected Mode option unchecked
  Restricted Sites - Enable Protected Mode option unchecked

  Also there is one Advanced setting - Enable enhanced Protected Mode - this is unchecked
  
Code extract:
 At Class definition:
  private static WebDriver ie_driver;
 In relevant Method: (in a Catch clause)
  DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
  capabilities.setCapability("ensureCleanSession", true);
  capabilities.setCapability(CapabilityType.BROWSER_NAME, "IE");
  capabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.INTRODUCE_FLAKINESS_BY_IGNORING_SECURITY_DOMAINS,true);
  System.setProperty("webdriver.ie.driver", "C:\\IEDriverServer_Win32_3.0.0\\IEDriverServer.exe");
  ie_driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(capabilities);

On execution:

 Two IE sessions start up - each with 2 processes - a 64 bit iexplore.exe and a 32-bit iexplore.exe
  Both sessions are accessing URL http://localhost:15116/
   My home page is http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=255141
  Both sessions show the message "This is the initial start page for the WebDriver server."

  However the program traps an error on this step
 
 The Try/Catch error message is
  Unable to create new remote session.
  desired capabilities = Capabilities [{ensureCleanSession=true, browserName=IE, ignoreProtectedModeSettings=true, version=, platform=WINDOWS}],
  required capabilities = Capabilities [{}]
  Build info: version: 'unknown', revision: '1969d75', time: '2016-10-18 09:43:45 -0700'

 The Console shows:
  Started InternetExplorerDriver server (32-bit)
  3.0.0.0
  Listening on port 13899
  Only local connections are allowed  
  Feb 08, 2017 4:09:37 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
  INFO: Attempting bi-dialect session, assuming Postel's Law holds true on the remote end
  Feb 08, 2017 4:09:39 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
  INFO: Falling back to original OSS JSON Wire Protocol.
  Feb 08, 2017 4:09:40 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
  INFO: Falling back to straight W3C remote end connection

  
Some comments:
 2-processes per IE session - I believe that this is not a factor
  I have investigated the reason for IE launching 2 processes per session.
  This appears to be normal behavior even if you launch the 32-bit version directly.
  I see comments such as - "to assist with recovery". 
  Indeed, disabling the 64-bit version (renaming the directory) prevents launching the 32-bit version.
 2 IE Sessions is very odd

 Note - I added HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE (iexplore DWORD 0) but no luck. so I removed it