Fix: Internet Explorer not Opening

Internet Explorer is one of the oldest browsers available in the Windows operating system. Numerous people use it around the globe even after giants like Chrome or Firefox emerged in the internet industry.

However, despite it being old and heavily developed by experts, this browser isn’t without its flaws and shortcomings. One of these shortcomings is that the browser doesn’t open links or doesn’t open at all when it is launched through its application. This error has been there for a couple of years and there are several workarounds present. Start with the first one and work your way down accordingly.

Solution 1: Resetting Internet Explorer

Before we start troubleshooting extensively, it is wise to reset the Internet Explorer using Internet Settings. This is the official fix stated by Microsoft itself. It is possible that the internet explorer settings are not configured properly or there may be some bad configurations present. All these combined might be preventing Internet Explorer from launching successfully.

1. Press Windows + R, type “inetcpl.cpl” and press Enter.
2. Once in internet options, navigate to the advanced tab. Click “Reset” present at the near bottom of the screen.

3. Check the option “Delete personal settings” when the new window comes forth. Click “Reset”.

Note: This action will reset the internet explorer. All your add-ons will be disabled and all your home pages will be reset. Proceed at your own risk.

4. Now restart your computer and check if this made any difference.

Note: You can try resetting IE using both options; either you can reset without resetting your personal information or you can reset the other way. Try both and see which one works for you.

Solution 2: Using System File Checker

This error might be generated because of bad configurations present on your computer. Whenever your computer comes across these errors it is unable to proceed with the operation which is executing; hence the error message. We can try running the SFC scan and check if there are any integrity violations. If there are, we can run the DISM command to fix them.

System file checker is a utility in Windows which allows users to scan and restore corruption present in their operating system. It is integrated with Windows resource protection, which protects folders, registry keys, and critical system files as well.

1. Press Windows + R to launch the Run application. Type “taskmgr” in the dialogue box and hit Enter to launch your computer’s task manager.
2. Now click on File option present at the top left side of the window and select “Run new task” from the list of options available.

3. Now type “PowerShell” in the dialogue box and check the option underneath which states “Create this task with administrative privileges”.

4. Once in the Windows Powershell, type “sfc /scannow” and hit Enter. This process may take some time as your entire Windows files are being scanned by the computer and being checked for corrupt phases.

5. If you encounter an error where Windows states that it found some error but was unable to fix them, you can execute the command in the next step. Otherwise, simply restart your computer and try launching IE again.
6. Run this command in the same PowerShell window. “DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth”. This will download the corrupt files from the Windows update servers and replace the corrupt ones. Do note that this process can also consume some time according to your internet connection. Don’t cancel in any stage and let it run. Restart your computer after the process.

Solution 3: Uninstalling Antivirus Programs

All Antivirus software constantly monitors your computer’s activity which also includes your online browsing. With that being said, there are cases where the antivirus conflicts with your browser causing it to crash. You should disable your antivirus which can sometimes help in fixing this issue. Some specific Antiviruses which was noted to cause the problem were McAfee and Malwarebytes. Nonetheless, you should disable your antivirus software no matter what it is.

After disabling your Antivirus, restart your computer and see if this made any difference. If it didn’t, feel free to enable the antivirus software back on.

Note: Disable your antivirus software at your own risk. Appuals will not be responsible for any damage caused to your computer.

Solution 4: Creating a new Profile

If all the above methods don’t work, it probably means that there is some misconfiguration in your user profile. This is a known problem in Windows where user accounts get corrupt or due to some modules getting damaged, some functions in the user profile fail to work as expected.

You should try to make a new account and transfer your data to it which should get rid of this particular issue. Before transferring any data, make sure that IE is working perfectly in the new user account. Transfer the data and delete your old profile only if it works. It is recommended to backup your important data before executing this solution.

Solution 5: Disabling EAF-mitigation in EMET

Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is a freeware security toolkit developed by Microsoft. Its purpose is to provide a unified interface to enable and tune Windows security features. It is also referred to an extra layer of defense against malware attacks.

EAF-mitigation was seen to cause a lot of problems for users running Internet Explorer. This software was seen to conflict with the browser causing unexpected problems. In the worst case, it didn’t allow the user to launch the browser properly.

If you have EMET installed on your computer, it is advised that you either disable it or disable Internet Explorer from the application configuration. Microsoft acknowledged this flaw and released an update to fix this problem. If you are holding back and not updating your windows or EMET, it is highly recommended that you do.

Note: If disabling the mitigation for IE doesn’t work, you can try disabling it for ‘iexplore.exe’ as seen in the image above. Also, keep in mind the risks associated with disabling security software on your computer.

Solution 6: Resetting Network Settings

You can also reset all your network settings in order to force Internet Explorer to run with new configurations. It is possible that due to faulty network settings saved on your computer, you are facing this problem. Do note that for performing these actions, you require an administrator account.

1. Press Windows + S to launch the search bar. Type “cmd” in the dialogue box, right-click on the application and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Once in an elevated command prompt, execute the following commands one by one.

ipconfig /flushdns

nbtstat –R

nbtstat –RR

netsh int reset all

netsh int ip reset

netsh winsock reset

3. After executing all the commands, reset your computer and check if this solves the problem. Make sure that you restart your computer fully before attempting to open Internet Explorer.

Solution 7: Registering ieproxy.dll

ieproxy.dll is an Internet Explorer ActiveX Interface Marshaling Library made by Microsoft. It is a system process and due to it missing or not being registered in your system, you can be faced with Internet Explorer not launching. Corruption of DLL files is nothing new in the world of Windows. We can try re-registering the DLL file and see if this solves the problem for us. Do note that you will require administrative privileges to continue this solution.

1. Press Windows + S, type “command prompt” in the dialogue box, right-click on the application and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Once at the command prompt, execute the following command:

regsvr32.exe "c:\program files\internet explorer\ieproxy.dll"

If this command doesn’t work, execute this one:

regsvr32.exe "c:\program files (x86)\internet explorer\ieproxy.dll"

3. After registering the DLL, restart your computer and see if you can open Internet Explorer normally.

Solution 8: Using third-party scripts

If all the above methods don’t work, you can try running these third-party scripts on your computer. These will re-register the important components of Internet Explorer and also make sure that all the required DLL files are present.

Note: Download and run the scripts at your own risk. Appuals will not be responsible for any kind of damage to your computer whatsoever.

1. Press Windows + S, type “system information” in the dialogue box and open the application. Now check your system version. It will either be 32x or 64x.
2. Now download the fix according to the information of your system and internet explorer.

Download this .zip if you are running Windows 32-bit.

Download this .zip if you are running Internet Explorer 32-bit on Windows 64-bit.

Download this .zip if you are running Internet Explorer 64-bit on Windows 64-bit.

3. After downloading and extracting the file, right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
4. After executing, restart your computer completely and check if the problem at hand got solved.