Here's how to get the Modern version of IE running on Windows 10 Technical Preview

By John Callaham
last updated

While the desktop version of Internet Explorer is supposed to be the only one available on the Windows 10 Technical Preview, there is a way to access the Modern UI version of IE in this preview build as well, if you want a more touchscreen-based experience.

A man who goes by the Twitter handle "AdamUCF" has created a script that can be accessed and downloaded on the Pastebin website. After downloading it, you will have to change the file extension name to to .ps1. After that, you just right click the file and open it with Powershell to access the Modern IE version.

IE

Our editor in chief Daniel Rubino has tried this script out and found that the Modern IE runs very well, and very fast, with his Surface Pro 3 tablet. However, he does say that if you close out the IE browser, you will need to run the .ps1 file every time to access the Modern version again.

As we reported yesterday, the Windows 10 Technical Preview does not yet have the upcoming Internet Explorer 12 web browser, but it does have a few improvements over the current Windows 7 and 8.1 versions of IE11. If you have tried this script, what do you think of the Modern IE running in this early build of Windows 10?

Source: AdamUCF on Twitter, PasteBin

John Callaham
John Callaham
73 Comments
  • Haha.. One of the first hacks on Windows 10
  • Windows = gotta hack 'em all ( rofl :D )
  • Its a simple python script is all, not really a hack. But I guess you can call it that. There are many PS you can use to do all sorts of cool things on windows. I dis require the guy to find the call outs to pull that together, which is pretty impressive in such a short amount of time. He clearly is well versed in the registry side of the OS.
  • It's not Python, by the way ;-)
  • Your right, its power shell
  • Python is PY
  • Not really. Over at MDL people have even found a way to get WMC running on Windows 10 albeit with system info showing the OS as Windows 8! There's a nice thread over there for such findings.
  • That means this not really the first hack? :P
  • Maybe, but think there's people going though the code and changing it so we will never know who was the first to "hack" Windows 10
  • I'll try it when I get home.
  • Great
  • Good
  • If there is no modern ie, can we still pin websites to our start screen
  • This is a tech preview. If you want a complete OS, stick with something that's actually a finished product.
  • Yes. IE11 has always had the ability to add a site "to apps" from the settings [gear] menu from the desktop. However, the lack of an obvious way to access the modern IE is more likely attributed to the unfinished continuum functionality that had yet to be implemented in the preview. If it didn't exist, this script wouldn't work,
  • I ran it and all my saved pinned to start favourites were there waiting for me from Windows 8.1
  • Wait...does this mean my beloved modern IE will never return? Or is 12 supposed to be some sort of hybrid? Have to be honest...so far not liking the prospect of going back to the start screen! Tiles look ugly on the old style menu!!!
  • No they dont, they look nicer on the start menu.
  • You been smoking crack? lol...I guess it's all just subjective eh
  • Some people are too fanboyish for me to believe. I like Windows 8.1 and IE11, but metro IE is terrible compared to the desktop one, and to change any settings in metro IE you have to fallback to the desktop one. And the start screen only looks good on a tablet, it doesnt look good on a desktop or laptop. Microsoft even said themselves that they got the UI wrong in Windows 8. Open your eyes dude.
  • There are pros and cons to both versions. The desktop one sucks on touch. The metro version's renderer is crap by comparison.
  • I was only making a joke, I wasn't actually having a go at you lol! But seriously, I love the metro UI. I only keep a few things on my PC. I love loading up and launching IE, Metro tube, Netflix...all without doing much else. I also love how it looks with the background too. And if I was a fan boy I would lap up anything Microsoft says...that is the definition of a fan boy! So your point about what Microsoft said is irrelevant to me!!! Just sayin...
  • No one opinion trumps the rest... I use win8 for both touch and keyboard/mouse... I love the back swipe and the forward swipe. I love that the keyboard comes up on input boxes when I touch them... and the keyboard stays asleep when I mouse click on the same input. The argument isn't whether the modern IE is better then normal IE its that it doesn't function with my Surface Pro 3.. Chrome does a better touch experience than desktop ie (but chrome drinks my battery dry)... so in a perfect world we add the touch experience to ie11/12 so that the modern IE can be replaced without tears... until then... I need my friggin touch experience so quit telling me why I shouldn't want modern IE or the start menu, which, that complaint  is too old to still hear for me... as I can get to the same places as I did with windows 7 and I love all my tiled icons reminding me what apps have stuff for me to look at... (yes I love the way the new start menu looks and dragging items from the start menu into the tile area looks awesome)
  • No one really knows, but IE 12 needs to run on phone, ARM and PC, so it will likely be a Modern IE 12 app of some sort.
  • I will finally use Modern IE on desktop! :)
  • I hope they make it an app and not part of the OS like WP8.x. We shouldn't have to wait for a firmware update to get the latest IE since there are no alternatives.
  • No alternatives. Except Chrome, Firefox and Opera, and loads more smaller ones. Chrome is winning right now, I will be using it as soon as the battery life issues are fixed
  • "Chrome is winning right now, I will be using it as soon as the battery life issues are fixed" what a winner.... I want more winners like that.   also he is talking about PHONES, not Windows desktop. which in x64-x86 it has alternatives. also... IE works fine for many users, so your "Chrome is winning" it's just plain wrong, even Firefox works better. and it has extensions if you will make that the reason to be a winner. even if extensions are just not important things for many users who only care about visiting sites, not downloading a stupid extension to download youtube videos like if there was no hundred of alternatives to download them. (as an example)
  • Would be nice if they allow it to toggle from touch UI to desktop (mouse friendly) UI.
  • As stated in my above comment, it's more likely that modern IE is hidden due to the lack of continuum in current builds, and that the next version of IE will still include the modern interface, albeit running with desktop functionality. TL;DR: Once continuum is ready for preview, it's likely IE will switch the UI and scale when switching back and forth between touch and 'classic' mode.
  • well IE12 is supposed to have a new UI and all, maybe that's what will make the hybrid thing? there should be a IE modern version, but it would be silly to develop 2 different things at this point, better just change UI like Win10 is supposed to do base on what device yuou are. but who knows at this point? we don't even know how IE12 will really look or work like. let's hope the best I guess.
  • I hope they don't have duplicate apps like ie metro and ie desktop. Sort of stupid now that they launch on the desktop. Maybe keep metro for tablets or touchscreen
  • Yeah.. One calculator.. One notepad.. Posted via the Windows Phone Central App for Android
  • I agree duplicate apps and settings... throwing you out of one UI to another when you opened an app or settings was jarring and they got hammered for it. Considering the Classic Desktop of 10 will support modern apps windowed, then it would be logical that the next IE will be a modern app which would work in both UI's.. Windowed on the Desktop and Fullscreen from Start Screen. However, what's seems logical and what actually happens might not be the same thing, lets just hope MS gets its s**t together for IE and all of its own Applications/Apps, settings etc. If it is a modern app, I wonder about plugins/extensions and wonder if updates to it would be delivered through the store and not through Windows Update.
  • I tried to install windows 10 on virtualbox...and allocated 2gb for the OS . It crashed..then I uninstalled it but still its not releasing that 2GB ram!! What to do??
  • Reboot your computer?
  • ctrl + shift + esc => find virtualbox => end task
  • I tried and uninstalled it from my pc...still its there
  • virtualbox is the worst thing ever... I don't know how people use it, use the vmware player, it always seem to work better. I used virtualbox to test stuff and it was slow and bad, then I used it for some android emulators and it's not any better. but to run windows on it, I would rather use vmware or hyper-V (but hyper-V doesn't let external USB devices if you care about that, well I tried to put a webcam last time and there was no way of doing it like vmware stuff)
  • Hyper-V requires specific hardware. Not all devices are compatible.
  • If you have Windows use hyper v.
  • "Our Editor In Chief Daniel Rubino" lol such formality. You crack me up sometimes, John Callaham.
  • Is there any way to display apps full screen(default) with touch environment on Dell Venue 8? Or did they take away full screen default capability?
  • It is taken away but highly likely coming back once they put in 'tablet mode' support. Right now, this is best geared for desktop PCs and laptops.
  • Good, I like it and all but id like it to open full screen on tablet. Absolutely live it on PC, but I know its in an alpha state and needs tin of work. Thanks Daniel!
  • Use the three dots next to the icon in the title bar.
  • Keep in mind this version was to focus on enterprise using mouse and keyboard users. They have a lot planned for non keyboard/mouse users in the future.
  • Ffs microsoft spend some bucks in windows phone APPS or atleast make basic apps like call recorder,answering machine etc.
  • one of main reasons i went back to 8.1 on my htpc. I use the metro ie to watch Premier league/Spanish / bundesliga/ligue 1 on my 55" tv with two games in separate Metro IE in full screen. With Win 10, this was a no option at least thus far. I'm glad i installed the Tp on a 2nd hard drive instead.
  • F11 edit: oh I see what you mean...
  • Not loving the TP so far.  I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I'm really missing my charm bar and jump list.  Maybe they'll put some kind of hot corner feature in that will reproduce the effect.
  • I find myself pressing windows+c a lot to bring the charm bar in, there is a setting on the navigation options that suggests charm bar should still swipe in but I couldn't get it to work.
  • win+c = charm bar. Its still there. They did say it would be changed, but its not going away. Jump lists aren't changed at all from what I can tell.
  • Obvious way to me is to have one app that uses the appropriate interface for the environment it is being used in. IE for example would open as a desktop app in desktop mouse and as modern ui in metro. This could be triggered by the user switching, or the connection/disconnection of the keyboard a la continuum. You could even have an extension to the ' send to other desktop' feature as send to modern ui or vice versa with the interface changing accordingly (as IE does now when you click open page on desktop from the modern browser)
  • it's even better than the rusty syringe trick
  • Not sure why I would.  Like most (all?) Modern apps it's not as good as the legacy version.  This is my biggest concern when I hear that the few legacy apps that we have on the surface are going away.
  • Im sure their is a way thru the registry to make this permanent.
    Of corse their are improvements every version of Windows starting with vista has had hardware based security enhancements for ie that older os'es werent able to get
  • They should take a page out of chrome's book. I noticed that chrome in the desktop detects that you are using touch and pop-ups the keyboard automatically when needed. It acts like IE modern, but in desktop mode. IE in desktop mode requires you to manually open the keyboard and manually close it. And FireFox should release a 64 bit version. I've recently discovered Waterfox and LOVE it. Its so much better than FireFox and the only difference is that its an unofficial 64 bit version of FireFox.
  • There's a huge problem with IE of windows phone, certain websites and videos automatically closes down after the WP 8.1 update.
  • Windows 8.1 works great on a tablet. Windows 10 should operate just like Windows 8.1 in tablet mode. Windows 10 preview now has the opposite problem. Great for desktop users but touch user now suffer.
  • This will be fixed with the Continuum mode that's not in the preview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_O-LrGL-YQ
  • I am able to get the modern start back fine but every app launched go's to the desktop. No apps run as modern now. I think this will change later.
  • yes, the preview is mainly meant for KB+M users.  I think you'll eventually have the option to set which mode you want to be in by default
  • There is an exe file that works launching the Modern IE, it is free and can be downloaded at: http://winaero.com/download.php?view.1778 Also you can ping it to taskbar or start. Saludos!  
  • That would be awesome. I would love be at work and have Cortana tell me that my "package has arrived."
  • You don't need this script. Just go to taskbar properties.
  • Then the Start Menu tab
  • I'm sorry. I was referring to the modern start screen.
  • Thanks. I am so glad I can use Modern IE with the Share Option and the Read mode and test Windows 10; it was really my only disappointment. I am sure it will be back better than ever in the finished product.
  • I was wondering where the Modern version had gone. Putting the desktop IE in full screen mode gives the same feel so I'm just going to do that for now.
  • Interesting, will try this when I get home.
  • No sound Windows 10 preview!!
  • I need basic help. When I download the file from Pastebin I get a .txt file. How do I obtain the .ps1 file that will open with Powershell? THX