Microsoft Details End of Life Roadmap for IE11

When it comes to browsers on Windows 10, there are currently three options technically available to users. You have Internet Explorer 11, legacy Edge, and the ‘new’ Edge. But starting in 2022, Internet Explorer 11 will be officially retired.

You might be thinking that Internet Explorer 11 was already pushed out to sea as part of a Viking funeral but that’s not quite the case. Today, Microsoft is announcing the retirement of the browser with the next major milestone being August 17^th, 2021 where Microsoft 365 and other apps will stop supporting the browser.

After the Microsoft 365 support for the browser ends, on June 15^th, 2022, the browser will be fully retired with no additional support for certain versions of Windows 10. As with all things Microsoft, it’s a bit complicated about if you can use the browser following the retirement date.

According to the blog post, the retirement does not affect “in-market Windows 10 LTSC or Server Internet Explorer 11 desktop applications. It also does not affect the MSHTML (Trident) engine.” If you still need IE 11 functionality after this date, you will be pushed towards the Edge IE Mode but if that does not work for you, Microsoft is not going to allow for extended support for the browser.

The short version of what you need to know is that if you are still relying on the native IE11 browser, and IE 11 Mode in Edge does not work for your specific websites, you need to start planning now for the browser’s retirement.

The ‘new’ Edge, or the Edge already installed on your desktop today as long as it is a recent version of Windows 10, is a better browser and offers significantly more functionality than the outgoing IE11.