Configuration required for running tests on Internet Explorer (IE)

In order to run test on Internet Explorer, the following settings needs to be configured on machines running the Leapwork Studio and/or Leapwork Agent.

Note: If the IE has stopped working properly in Leapwork after your Windows update please check that the default configuration hasn’t been applied again.

Following settings are required:

• Protected Mode
• Enhanced Protected Mode
• Registry Settings

Protected Mode:

The protected mode settings are same across all variants of IE and must be enabled as shown below.

1. Open Internet Options >> Switch to "Security" Tab
2. Select the "Internet" Zone and Select the Checkbox "Enable Protected Mode".

Apply this and do this for remaining 3 zones viz. "Local intranet", "Trusted sites" and "Restricted sites". After this, close the Internet Options and Restart Internet Explorer to get these changes reflected.

Note: If the checkbox for "Enable Protected Mode" is disabled (as the case maybe with security settings within organization), kindly contact the IT department to enable these settings.

Enhanced Protected Mode:

Enhanced Protected Mode is a security feature that was introduced in Windows 8. By default, this feature is turned off in Internet Explorer on the Windows 8.1 desktop. This setting must be disabled. To disable this setting follow below steps:

1. Open Internet Options >> Switch to "Advanced" Tab
2. Scroll down to the "Security" section.
3. Remove the selection from the checkbox "Enable Enhanced Protected Mode*" as below:

Apply the settings and close the Internet Options. After this, Restart Internet Explorer to get these changes reflected.

Note: If the checkbox for "Enable Enhanced Protected Mode" is disabled (as the case maybe with security settings within organization), kindly contact the IT department to enable these settings.

Registry Settings:

Set a registry entry on the target computer so that the driver can maintain a connection to the instance of Internet Explorer it creates.

Driver connection Settings (Required for IE 11 Only)*

1. Open the Registry editor by running "regedit" in the Run program.
2. Navigate to: 
   For 32-bit Windows installations,
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl 
   For 64-bit Windows installations,
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl
3. Create key, FEATURE_BFCACHE, if not already present.
4. Inside this key, create a DWORD value named iexplore.exe with the value of 0. Even if QWORD is suggested for 64-bit machines, create a DWORD.

Basic Authentication Settings (Required for IE 8 - 11)

When accessing a web page that requires Basic Authentication, a dialog popup will ask the user to enter username and password. Selenium does not support interaction with this dialog box, so if you create a Web Automation case in Leapwork, you will have to specify username and password as part of the initial URL:

http://user:password@hostname/path.

Internet Explorer will by default block this way of doing Basic Authentication, but you can remove this block by making the following changes to the registry:

1. Open the Registry editor by running "regedit" in the Run program.
2. Navigate to:
   For 32-bit Windows installations,
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE 
   For 64-bit Windows installations,
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE
3. Create the following keys, set both to a DWORD with a value of 0:
   "iexplore.exe" and
   "explorer.exe"
4. Close the Registry Editor window.

Refer below (for 64 bit):

The IE tests can now work well with Leapwork Studio. 

Note: In case user has already updated above settings and still receiving "No browser window is open, so navigation cannot continue" message while running test then, go to following path "C:\Program Files\LEAPWORK\Studio", and check if "IEDriverServer.exe" exists, if it does not exist then reinstall Leapwork, else if issue persists then contact Priority Support.