Force update of Enterprise Mode Site list in Edge

When working with application compatibility, or in this case web application compatibility, you have for sure heard about Enterprise Mode in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. This feature will make sure old websites will open in correct document mode in Internet Explorer (or for newer websites in Edge).

Enterprise Mode site list fileNormally you are working with the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager to add, edit and remove websites to the list, and preferable store this XML file on central web server. (UNC and local file path does not work with Edge)

Every time you save the list it till increment the version by 1. The next time you restart Edge it will go look for the version number on central place and compare it with your local copy saved in the registry.

Regedit

Normally you would think you can delete the registry key, clean the cache in Edge and to force download of a new site list, unfortunately this is does not work! Why? So how does this work? I started Process Monitor to see.

c3871a30-1af0-4a0b-9733-1a92ed6eb3b9

Edge is starting and connecting to my web server (in my lab located on DC-1, don’t do this in production!) and the file is cached – in Internet Explorer cache!

To force download a new version of the Enterprise Mode Site list this is the steps you have to take

  • Open Internet Explorer, open Internet options
    ec28b6a6-d6fe-47bc-82ea-2c5d92e83f38
  • Click Delete… and check Temporary Internet files and website files and click Delete
    d0ebee30-c795-40a9-b7e7-77dd13e4bd53
  • Now the cached file is removed. Restart Edge and the version number in registry is updated, and your new sites are added.
    4abc7642-dbd8-459b-ad0d-187d290ab51d

Normally this is not a problem since the cached copy is check every once and a while, but when you are testing you want things to happen fast and this I how you do!

 

References for Enterprise Mode

Internet Explorer and January 12 2016

Updates to Enterprise Mode for IE11

Website compatibility with Edge and Enterprise Mode


Posted

in

,

by

Comments

4 responses to “Force update of Enterprise Mode Site list in Edge”

  1. Brian

    I am not able to force an update. It just keeps spinning and looking for updates. Any suggestions ?

    Like

    1. Hi Brian, thanks for reaching out! What happens if you write about:compat in the address field ?

      Like

  2. Peter Almer Frederiksen

    An easier way is to write “about:compat” in the address bar of Edge, then click “Force Update”. This feature was introduced in Windows 10 version 1511.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Absolutely many many thanks for pointing that out! This post describes what’s happens in the background

      Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.