Problems Uninstalling IE10

Question

Help!

IE10 was causing problems for me, so I decided to move back to IE9. This is a Windows 7 machine. Using the Control Panel / Add Remove Windows Components, I unchecked Internet Explorer 10, waited for the uninstall to complete and then rebooted. Everything ran cleanly, but after restarting I don't seem to have IE at all. There's no sign of it on the desktop or start menu. IEXPLORE.EXE is nowhere to be found.

I downloaded and ran the installer for IE9, but it immediately fails with: "Internet Explorer did not finish installing" "Internet Explorer 9 is already installed on this system."

Can anyone offer any suggestions for what to try next? I'm not a fan of IE, but it is required for the project that I'm working on. Alternative browsers are not a choice here.

Answer 1

Add the Internet Explorer component back using turn Windows features on or off.

Then click the View installed updates item in the left menu of Programs and Features. Search for Internet Explorer 10, select it and uninstall it. Internet Explorer 9 will be reinstated.

The procedure for uninstalling is the same as that for Internet Explorer 9 given here.

The setting in Turn Windows Features on or off is to remove Internet Explorer completely, as you found.

Answer 2

If Windows System Restore was enabled when you installed IE10, and if a restore point prior to install is still available, you could do a system restore to return to a state when IE9 was functional. This worked for me to return to IE9 after I'd installed IE10 Release Preview.

Here's a basic overview of System Restore.