Windows – Internet Explorer 9 closes immediately on startup

32-bitcrashinternet-explorer-9windows 7

I've just finished installing Internet Explorer 9 on my Windows 7 32-bit machine. It appeared to complete okay, with no errors or warnings in the event logs.

However when I try to run Internet Explorer 9, the window opens, the blue loading circle spins, "not responding" appears, then the window shuts without anything appearing in the browser window.

My machine is a decent spec, and I've had no problems with Internet Explorer 8, or any other browser before.

Here are the things I've tried which didn't help:

  • Installing Internet Explorer 9 via Windows Update, instead of manually
  • Running in "no add-ons" mode
  • Disabling all add-ons manually
  • Running the OS in safe mode
  • Temporarily disabling firewall/antivirus
  • Resetting Internet Explorer settings in "Internet Properties"
  • Ticking "Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering" in "Internet Properties"
  • Re-registering dlls
  • Running program as administrator
  • Installing Service Pack 1
  • Installing all critical/important Windows updates
  • Logging into Windows as different user
  • Downloading the installer using a different machine (in case installer was corrupt)

I am now officially out of ideas. Anyone have any more?

UPDATE
Ok. It looks like we might be getting somewhere. I have run procmon, as suggested by ccpizza. Here's the result when I try running IE9. It's full of "Name not found" and "Path not found" errors. Why they're happening- I don't know.

Best Answer

This not the first such question I am answering here. Internet Explorer 9 seems to be unable to install itself on some computers.

Seeing the number and variety of attempts that you have already done, there is not much left. "Use Software Rendering" is almost always cited as the reason for startup crashes, but you have tried it already, but better keep it checked for future tests, as well as using no add-ons.

EDIT: See this Microsoft article: How to solve Internet Explorer 9 installation problems.

Questions:

  1. Did you look into the Windows 7 Event Viewer?
    An error entry there from when it crashed might point us in the right direction.
  2. Did you specify any non-standard paths when installing Internet Explorer 9?

If a cause cannot be found, then the only solution would be to uninstall Internet Explorer 9 and wait for the service pack.

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