How Re-install Internet Explorer 11 in Windows Server 2012 R2

 Thanks to: https://www.codeproject.com/

IE 11 ships as a hidden optional feature. The feature is called “Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64”. Since Windows Server 2012 R2 is a 64-bit only operating system, there is no “x86” equivalent of this feature. To refresh the installation, what we need to do is uninstall this feature, reboot, then install it and reboot again. However, we cannot use Install-WindowsFeature or Remove-WindowsFeature PowerShell commands to do this, because it is a hidden-optional feature. We have to do this using the DISM tool, from a CMD command prompt.

We need to do a total of 2 reboots, so plan for that accordingly before proceeding.

Step 1 – Remove Internet Explorer 11

Open a command prompt in elevated mode and paste in the following command:

Hide   Copy Code

C:\> dism /online /disable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"

If you get an error like “Error 87”, reboot the system and try again.

The above command will uninstall IE 11 from the system. But you will still see the icons and be able to continue browsing in any active browser windows. A reboot is required to remove it. So REBOOT!!!

NOTE: At the end of the above command, it will automatically prompt you to reboot. Simply hit the “Y” key to reboot the system.

After a reboot, you will see the Internet Explorer icon and shortcuts are completely gone. To be completely safe, clear all the temporary files in the system using this series of commands. It would be safe to ignore any files that cannot be deleted because they were in use:

Hide   Copy Code

C:\> DEL /S /Q "%TMP%\*.*"
C:\> DEL /S /Q "%TEMP%\*.*"
C:\> DEL /S /Q "%WINDIR%\Temp\*.*"
C:\> DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
C:\> DEL /S /Q "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
C:\> DEL /S /Q "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\*.*"

Step 2 – Install Internet Explorer 11

Open a command prompt again in elevated mode. This time, we need to enable the feature we disabled above.

Hide   Copy Code

C:\> dism /online /enable-feature:"Internet-Explorer-Optional-amd64"

Once again, you will see a little bit of output and then a prompt to reboot. Reboot now. After the reboot, IE 11 will be back, with all the default (out of box) settings. Reconfigure as you please.

Have fun!