How to make Internet Explorer ignore X-UA-Compatible-specified legacy document modes?

When compatibility view has been disabled in all ways possible it seems that Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 honours a website’s X-UA-Compatible value^†. This happens outside of compatibility view (the icon is missing from the address bar) and is not caused by compatibility lists or a <!DOCTYPE> directive.

Is there any way for the user (not the web developer) to choose a document mode for a website, overriding the website’s X-UA-Compatible value?

Force Internet Explorer 10 to open in non-compatibility view has accepted an answer that works by defining the default document mode with regard to the <!DOCTYPE> directive. I've tried the registry trick without success. While it may have solved the problem for the other author’s question, my question has to do with X-UA-Compatibile headers.

^† Picasa Web Albums defines X-UA-Compatible as IE=EmulateIE7. Opening the F12 developer tools and switching document mode from 7 to anything newer (8, 9, 10, Edge) instantly fixes the website. However changes done through the developer tools do not persist.

Martijn

Posted 2015-04-19T13:14:52.543

Reputation: 106

Why not open it in Firefox or Chrome? They will always render as the latest browser – Ganesh R. – 2015-04-19T14:06:48.287

3@GaneshR. because average users do not want to juggle several browsers. I will always recommend they switch to a non-IE browser, but that doesn’t change my question about Internet Explorer’s document mode behaviour. – Martijn – 2015-04-19T14:25:13.770

Possible duplicate, yes, though IE11 was not displaying the compatibility view icon in the address bar in my case. Don’t know if there is a difference between the automatic document mode switch and the website requested one. – Martijn – 2015-04-19T17:11:42.700

As for the missing icon: any chance the site's URL has been added to intranet sites?

– Arjan – 2015-04-20T07:16:16.087

@Arjan, it hasn’t, it was the first thing I checked when Picasa acted up. The list is empty and none of those checkboxes make a difference to the outcome. – Martijn – 2015-04-20T11:21:30.487

I have updated the question to (hopefully) explain why this issue is different from most compatibility mode related questions. Also hope this differentiates my question from the other one. – Martijn – 2015-04-21T10:03:10.453

This may be a workaround though not the solution to my specific question as it doesn’t specify a document mode locally, it requires a server to distribute a list. Group Policy also isn’t available to me as it does not come with every sub-version of Windows 8.1. – Martijn – 2015-04-20T11:27:19.977

You can use a local XML file instead of a server file for the website list, so it doesn't really require a server to distribute a list (though I've not personally tried this so cannot verify). But yes, it is only available in Windows 8.1 pro version. – Chirag Bhatia - chirag64 – 2015-04-20T12:20:23.120

I got the impression from the Microsoft documentation that the enterprise list required the XML file to be served over HTTP. Maybe I misread it. – Martijn – 2015-04-20T15:55:53.963

In the 2nd link, they give 3 examples of XML files (in the last few lines of the page), HTTP location, Local network and Local file. – Chirag Bhatia - chirag64 – 2015-04-21T05:42:58.317

I totally missed that, sorry @Chirag64! I will see if this can somehow be activated on non-Pro versions of Windows 8.1 and if it would be able to override X-UA-Compatible values. – Martijn – 2015-04-21T10:01:04.400

You could try a 3rd party utility Group Policy Editor - http://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-group-policy-editor-gpedit-msc-in-windows-7-home-premium-home-basic-and-starter-editions/ (not tried it myself though, so can't guarantee this will work)

– Chirag Bhatia - chirag64 – 2015-04-21T16:26:29.857

How to make Internet Explorer ignore X-UA-Compatible-specified legacy document modes?

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