For one person, Internet Explorer mode can be enabled manually in Edge settings. For a team or organization, administrators should use an Enterprise Mode Site List: an XML file that tells Edge which legacy internal sites must open in IE mode.
Does this affect you?
Use this for Microsoft Edge on managed Windows computers joined to a domain or controlled through Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. This is intended for IT administrators, not individual home users.
Build the Enterprise Mode Site List
The site list is the source of truth for IE mode routing.
- Download Microsoft Enterprise Mode Site List Manager.
- Open the tool and add each internal legacy site.
- Enter the site address.
- Choose IE11 mode for sites that need real IE compatibility, or Edge mode for sites that only need compatibility handling.
- Save the list as EnterpriseModeSiteList.xml.
- Host the XML file somewhere managed computers can reach it, such as a network share, internal web server, or supported cloud location.
Deploy the site list with Group Policy
Group Policy pushes the configuration to users or computers automatically.
- Open Group Policy Management Console.
- Create or edit a GPO that applies to the target users or computers.
- Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge.
- Enable Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List and enter the XML path or URL.
- Enable Configure Internet Explorer integration and set it to Internet Explorer mode.
- Link the GPO to the correct organizational unit if needed.
- Let policy refresh naturally, or run gpupdate /force on a test computer.
- Restart Edge and open a listed site to confirm it launches in IE mode.
More control
Deploy with Intune
In Microsoft Intune, use a device configuration profile with Administrative Templates or Settings catalog. Search for Enterprise Mode settings and provide the same site list location.
Maintain the list
Remove sites as they are retired or updated for modern Edge. An oversized or stale list makes troubleshooting harder and can force sites into IE mode unnecessarily.
Control user-added IE mode pages
A managed site list does not automatically prevent users from adding their own local IE mode entries. Use Edge policy controls if you need to restrict that behavior.
Verify policy pickup
On a managed computer, open edge://compat or edge://policy to confirm the site list URL and IE mode policies are present and applied.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn – Enterprise Mode Site List XML Schema (2025)
- Microsoft Learn – Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List for use in Microsoft Edge (2025)
- Microsoft Learn – Deploy Internet Explorer mode by using Group Policy (2025)