Microsoft really wants everyone to use it's shiny new browser, and I think everyone should. It is a completely new browser built for the modern web however there are limitations to building a browser just for the modern web mainly being legacy support of activex controls and Java so it's understandable that companies don't want Edge as the default browser however there is another way. The new Enterprise mode group policy lets companies decide what web pages will open in Internet Explorer instead. Ideally it would have been nice to have these sandboxed in an Internet Explorer tab however Microsoft wants the end user to know that this is what the organization has decided.
Setting up Edge Enterprise Mode
The first thing you need to do is download and install the Enterprise Mode Site List manager
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=42501
This is a simple tool that creates and versions a xml file that the client computer reads when launching the Edge Browser.
You can add and edit sites in this tool and then save as an XML File
Example adding ebay.com
You can later turn off Open in IE once the business website is compatible with Edge.
Once you have made your list Click File > Save to XML
Now have a look at the xml file, it should look something like
<rules version="7">
<docMode />
<emie>
<domain exclude="true">ebay.com</domain>
<domain doNotTransition="true" exclude="false">cnet.com</domain>
</emie>
</rules>
This example sets eBay to load up in Internet Explorer and we have set cnet.com to now open in Edge from now on.
Once you are happy with your config it's time to test it as a group policy
The policy is Computer Configuration > Windows Components > Microsoft Edge > Configure the Enterprise Mode List
The value here can be
- Drive Letter C:\EnterpriseMode.xml
- Web URL http://localhost:8080/EnterpriseMode.xml
- Network Share \\NetworkShare\EnterpriseMode.xml (I recommend placing this inside the group policy folder on Sysvol)
Alternatively you can also send all intranet sites to Internet Explorer using the group policy setting 'Send all intranet sites to Internet Explorer 11'
Testing
