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Here's how to enable the Spartan Edge rendering engine for IE11 in Windows 10

By Daniel Rubino, Sunday, Jan 25, 2015 at 4:31 pm EST

When it comes to web browsers, Windows 10 gets a little complicated. Internet Explorer 11 is the default browser for now, but later Spartan takes over as it has the new Edge rendering engine (but it can fall back to IE11 for legacy sites).

The Preview 9926 build has Internet Explorer 11 for the browser, however it does have some bits of the new Spartan one coming later this year. Specifically, you can enable the new rendering engine in IE11, the same one that is found in Spartan.

Enable Experimental Web Platform Features

  1. Open IE11
  2. Type about:flags in the address bar
  3. Set 'Experimental Web Platform Features' to enabled
  4. Restart browser

According to AnandTech, who outlined how to enable this feature, a small number of testers already have this enabled by default. For the rest of you, you can force it to work all the time. However, keep in mind this is literally why it says experimental. As such, you are getting the new rendering engine (that can be fast) but you may also experience some other performance issues.

If you want to live on the edge, try enabling this feature to see the performance difference. Worse comes to worse you can set it back to Automatic or even Disabled, in which case you just use the old IE11 rendering engine.

Additionally, you can also enable the 'Set Custom User-Agent String' function, which may also help circumvent old IE-only content.

Source: AnandTech

Daniel Rubino Editor-in-chief

"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. - Étienne de La Boétie"

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Reader comments

Here's how to enable the Spartan Edge rendering engine for IE11 in Windows 10

46 Comments
Melle Zwerver

no bother at all, it's kinda weird though, ie will launch from anywhere but the start menu, eventhough it points to the exact same location

kingjah

I have the same issue with my 8.1 ultrabook, whenever IE and especially Bing give me that annoying "page can't be displayed" message, I just remove it from taskbar and reattach it from program view, works 99% of the time.

Joshua Coy

It doesnt work for me either. I tried launching it from Cortana and various places from it in the Start Menu, but I'll try pinning it to the taskbar like you said in an earlier comment and see if that works. Now if only this build would let me watch videos on the browser or apps without crashing lol.

pawelf1

If someone cant start IE from start menu than click on it with right / show me file location delete that shortcut and creat a new one in the same place and it will work

SumdudeLR

I have the same problem but I can launch IE through Cortana when I search. My taskbar pins don't show up for some reason. I think it has to do with the taskbar position being set to the left side.

eddieDOTexe

Neat! Trying that now.
Anyone notice this preview build is less stable than previous early versions of Windows? (like win7 and win8 beta)

oolong2

Are people seriously trying to compare the stability of a "preview" release to a previous "retail" or "beta" release? Microsoft put a lot of effort into making sure that people understood that this is a preview release yet people seem to have completely ignored all of that text that came before clicking on the download link and pretend like they're installing something meant to be used on their everyday computer. Although I am using it on my every day laptop, but I understand my stupidity for doing so :)

Asskickulater

I'm with you, we stupid people can stupidly isntall it on our main pcs as long as we are aware of how stupid we are for it!

 

amazingly, it hasnt bitten me in the ass yet, how about you?

TrouserBandit

I've had the same experience. I remember that Windows 7 always worked flawlessly for me and I never noticed any UI/UX stuff that seemed too unfinished, but Windows 10 is so bad I'm not even using it (I put it on my mother's new SSD so we don't have to buy an os for a while).

Rising Mos

You have to remember that the beta/preview releases of 7 and 8 are different than 10. In the older days, everything is set by design and it is implemented and tested over and over. We don't have access to as many builds except the ones that are tested extensively. Now, the users are active in the design and features changes dramatically. We are having more regular builds den out that are relatively fresh out of the market. Because of that, you will see more bugs in them. Overall, this iterative process, design/implement /test/design again (which is more prevalent in smaller companies because they are more agile and working on smaller projects) should prove to produce a solid product at the end.

CaedenV

As far as I can tell most of the stability issues come from users who upgraded from win7/8 rather than doing a clean install of 10.  I did a full clean install on my laptop and desktop and nither are having any issues.

... well, the laptop is no longer having issues now that I have the right drivers installed.  That stupid mouse driver was touch-and-go for a while, but it seems to be sorted out now.

I just mean to say that if you are having problems then try reinstalling and see how it goes.

Mike Santagata

What happened to the Internet explorer app that's seen in windows 8/8.1? I found it easier to navigate that app, than the standard browser activated from 8/8.1 browser...

zikifer

That's what Spartan is replacing, and since we don't have Spartan yet we don't have a touch-friendly browser yet.

ncxcstud

I'm wondering if this will keep my IE in Win10 from crashing all the time... Probably not though, lol.

rth314

Didn't keep mine from crashing.  Can't even go to windowsphone.com without it crashing.  Had to hold my nose and install Chrome.  At least Chrome allows swiping to go to the previous page to simulate a touch browser.  But I wish I could pin websites to the Start menu.

thinkdan

I was hoping turning this on would fix the problems I've been having with IE on this build, but sadly no. Some sites take a long time to start loading, some won't open at all, I can't login to my bank's portal, etc. 

I understand though that this is just a beta at best, so no worries, I downloaded Chrome while they fix the bugs.

ladydias

Have you been using the smiley face up in the right corner to report sites that aren't working right?

wpn00b

Yes, please do this. Feedback is key to getting this to work properly in the final build. I'm sure they would get around to it eventually but to make absolutely sure, send that feedback!

lordsnow

It was enable by default on the last build of W10 for me but the performance wasn't great. I'll try again.

Joshua Coy

Video playback doesn't work for me on IE or any other app that streams video. It will hang up on the loading animation and then crash/close the app/browser. Anybody else have this problem, and maybe a potential fix to it?

Mark Richey

One thing to note if using a device in tablet mode, your desktop grays and the icons cannot be selected. Turn off that mode, transfer any programs you use to either the task bar or start menus. I have done this with Skype for desktop as I have 3 accounts I use and I do not intend to log in and out to do that. I will admit, I have cleared my desktop of all icons and don't miss them in the least. I use the tablet mode as I am one of those rare beasts who actually loves Windows 8, even on non-touch.

Sarang68

Hmm. It seems that when I enable Spartan engine it disables the video quality setting in OneDrive videos.

Wevenhuis

How nice and sneaky of microsoft to add it in the technical preview. My mindset was already on having a real go at spartan later in the year. But having it in an "alpha form" already to some degree, yes, is truly exciting!