Earlier this morning, I rebooted my PC running Windows 10 to complete the installation of a pending update. After restarting Windows 10 PC, I tried to launch the Internet Explorer browser using the Start menu search, but the search didn’t show Internet Explorer in its results.
At first, I thought the Start menu search is not working as it should and tried to navigate to the Windows Accessories folder of the Start menu (under All apps), hoping that I can run Internet Explorer from there. To my surprise, the Internet Explorer shortcut was missing even from the Windows Accessories folder, and this was the reason why the Start menu search was unable to search for the Internet Explorer program.
If you’re also unable to launch Internet Explorer program in Windows 10 using the search, you can try out given below directions to launch Internet Explorer program
IMPORTANT: If the Internet Explorer is not showing up in the Start menu, you can try other methods out there to launch the Internet Explorer. Refer to our 6 ways to open the Internet Explorer in Windows 10 guide for directions.
Method 1 of 2
Fix to missing Internet Explorer from Windows 10
Step 1: Open Start menu, click All apps (if you can’t see All apps, refer to our All apps missing in Windows 10 guide), and then navigate to Windows Accessories folder.
Note that in Windows 10 anniversary update builds, there is no All apps button in the Start menu. You need to scroll to see the Windows Accessories folder.
Step 2: Click on the Windows Accessories folder. The Internet Explorer icon should appear here. If the Internet Explorer shortcut is showing up, you can fix the issue (Internet Explore not appearing in search results) by rebuilding the search box. To rebuild, please refer to our how to rebuild the search index in Windows 10 guide for step-by-step instructions.
And if the Internet Explorer shortcut is not appearing under the Windows Accessories folder, follow the instructions in steps given below.
Step 3: Navigate to the following folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer (on 64-bit/x64 Windows 10)
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer (on 32-bit/x86 Windows 10)
In the above path, “C” is the drive letter of the drive where Windows 10 is installed.
Step 4: Once you navigate to the Internet Explorer folder, right-click on iexplore (.exe), click Send to, and then click Desktop (create shortcut) option to create a shortcut of iexplore on desktop.
You can now click on the iexplore shortcut on the desktop to launch the Internet Explorer browser. To add it back to the Windows Accessories folder and make it available in search results, you need to complete the next three steps.
Step 5: Copy the newly created iexplore shortcut from the desktop, open Run command box by simultaneously pressing Windows logo and R keys, paste the following path, and then hit the Enter key to open Windows Accessories folder. When you see the confirmation dialog, click the Continue button.
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories
Step 6: Finally, paste the iexplore shortcut. Rename the shortcut from iexplore to Internet Explorer.
The Internet Explorer shortcut should now appear in the Start menu Windows Accessories folder.
Step 7: The search will not immediately show Internet Explorer in its results as the new shortcut we just added to the Windows Accessories folder is not indexed yet. Either manually rebuild the search index by following the instructions in our how to rebuild the search index in Windows 10 or wait for a couple of hours to let Windows 10 automatically index the shortcut and show the same in search results.
Method 2 of 2
Enable Internet Explorer in Windows 10
Step 1: Type Appwiz.cpl in the Start/taskbar search field and then hit the Enter key to open Programs and Features window.
Step 2: On the left pane of the window, click the Turn Windows features on or off link. Clicking the link will open the Windows Features window.
Step 3: Here, scroll down the list to see the Internet Explorer entry. Select the Internet Explorer checkbox and then click the OK button. If you are asked to reboot, restart your computer once after saving your work.
