Open Internet Explorer from Chrome using a protocol handler (ie:url) - windows

Question

I've followed these steps and it doesn't work correctly for me.
Custom protocol handler in chrome
Basically, I don't have a custom app. I just want to create an handler to open IE with a specific URL.
Here are my reg:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie]
"URL Protocol"="\"\""
#="\"URL:IE Protocol\""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\DefaultIcon]
#="\"explorer.exe,1\""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open\command]
#="\"C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe\" \"%1\""
It's working but... when I'm opening ie:www.google.com from Chrome, it ask to open IE but it keeps the "ie:" in the opened URL... which generate a endless loop.
How can I fix that?
Thanks

Answer 1

Create a Protocol Handler
save this script as internet-explorer-protocol-handler.reg:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie]
"URL Protocol"="\"\""
#="\"URL:IE Protocol\""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\DefaultIcon]
#="\"explorer.exe,1\""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open\command]
#="cmd /k set myvar=%1 & call set myvar=%%myvar:ie:=%% & call \"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe\" %%myvar%% & exit /B"
Then run the script to install the keys in your registry. It will look like this:
Now links that use the ie: protocol will open in Internet Explorer.
Google
Demo Page

Answer 2

Here is a solution that should solve the problem with extended url's that contain parameters and special characters (&, % etc.)
Like this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=open-internet-explorer-from-chrome-using-a-protocol-handler&oq=open-internet-explorer-from-chrome-using-a-protocol-handler&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.1754j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Replace the command in reg file with this:
powershell -windowstyle hidden -command "& {$Url = '%1' ; $Url = $Url -replace 'ie:',''; $IE=new-object -com internetexplorer.application ; $IE.navigate2($Url) ; $IE.visible=$true }"

Answer 3

After few tests, I move to another strategy.
I'm targetin an intermediate batch script instead.
And the batch split the protocol and the url, and open IE.
Here is the batch:
echo %1%
set var=%1
set var=%var:~4,-1%
Start "" "%ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" %var%

Answer 4

Working registry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie]
"URL Protocol"=""
#="URL:IE Protocol"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\ie\shell\open\command]
#="cmd /c set url=\"%1\" & call set url=%%url:ie:=%% & call start iexplore -nosessionmerging -noframemerging %%url%%"
Some important notes:
You have to wrap %1 in double quotes. Otherwise url with multiple params like example.com?a=1&b=2 will be stripped to example.com?a=1, params after & will be ignored.
You have to remove the double quotes when calling iexplore. If you don't remove the double quotes and open multiple IE window from chrome, only the first IE window will get the correct URL. But removing quotes with command set url=%%url:\"=%% or set url=%%url:~1,-1%% doesn't work.
If you just can't make it to remove those quotes, add switches -nosessionmerging and -noframemerging to iexplore. These are command-line options to control "merging" behavior for IE.

Answer 5

The implementation of the registry will be more generic if you last line of the registry as
#="cmd /C set myvar=%1 & call set myvar=%%myvar:ie:=%% & call start /separate iexplore %%myvar%% & exit"
You wont need to create a custom script.
In case, the target URL can have more than 1 query params, you might face an issue that only the first param gets passed to IE (check the address bar on IE to validate).
In such a case, you can go for the following workaround ... simply create a new html file passing the target URL after encoding it and open this HTML on IE.
window.location = "ie:"+<URL to the above HTML>+"?path="+encodeURIComponent(<target URL>);
In the HTML file, just redirect to the decoded target URL
<html>
<head>
<title>
IE Redirect
</title>
<script>
function getUrlVars() {
var vars = {};
var parts = window.location.href.replace(/[?&]+([^=&]+)=([^&]*)/gi,
function(m,key,value) {
vars[key] = value;
});
return vars;
}
function openURL(){
window.location.href=decodeURIComponent(getUrlVars()["path"]);
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="openURL()">
</body>
</html>
The above worked perfectly in my application.

Answer 6

the following command will work for all query params to be passed:
cmd /C set myvar="%1" & call set myvar=%%myvar:ie:=%% & call start /separate "iexplore.exe" %%myvar%% & exit

Answer 7

the following command will work for all query params to be passed:
cmd /C set myvar="%1" & call set myvar=%%myvar:ie:=%% & call start
/separate "iexplore.exe" %%myvar%% & exit
We need to use the double quotes when a link had an ampersand in it and would not open in IE11 as anything after the ampersand was trimmed off.