Windows – Internet Explorer missing from Windows Features

internet explorerskypewindows 10

I've disabled Internet Explorer in the list of "Windows Features" on Windows 10, but then days later I realized that the desktop version of Skype seems to require it to be enabled in order to let me login to my account (it says, "Sorry, we couldn't connect to Skype").

I've ruled out firewall problems and other possible causes for that, updated Windows, and reinstalled Skype, so I'm certain I need to reenable Internet Explorer. However, IE is now missing from "Windows Features" and I can't find a way to add it back. See the screenshot below.

I've already run commands such as sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, but they gave no error messages.

Is there anything else I may try instead of "resetting" Windows 10 and losing all my customizations and risk breaking other programs in vain?

Best Answer

I managed to get Internet Explorer back going to the Settings "app" - Apps - Apps & features - Manage optional features - Add a feature - Internet Explorer 11, and then restarting my computer.

Skype still won't work, though. :(

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Those symptoms were caused by the fact that the registered packages had a higher version than the packages actually available in "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps". (Such a bug in 2018, no comment ...)

To fix it, I had to manually uninstall the packages in Powershell, then install the versions available. You can follow this simple procedure if you are in the same situation :

Accessing WindowsApps : follow this guide to take ownership of "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps";

Note : I will take the calculator as example, you have to repeat the following procedure for every broken app. There might be an automated way to do it with a powershell script, but I don't know about it.

Find out the registered version of your broken app :
- Open the console in admin mode and type "powershell" ;
- Type Get-AppXPackage -Name "*calc*" (replace calc by what's relevant for you. The * is a regular expression meaning it can be replaced by anything) ;
- In the results displayed, find out the PackageFullName line, and copy/paste this name in notepad so you don't lose it. If you don't find any folder with the same name in the WindowsApps folder, it means you have identified at least part of your problem ! In my case :

Find out the last available package : go in your WindowsApps folder, and find the folder with the last version of calculator (the one with "x64" in its name), in my case :

Unregister the broken version : back to the powershell, enter the command :

(Obviously replace the package name depending on your situation)

Remove-AppxPackage -Package "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_10.1712.3351.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"

Register the available package :

(The folder you found at step 3)

Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_10.1706.2406.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml"

Update the app : Simply launch Microsoft Store, click the "..." on the top right corner, then "Download and Update". Then click "Get update", and the store will update your app to their last version. Note that if the store itself is broken you can fix it the same way than I showed you with Calculator.

And if you didn't get any error message at this point, your problem should be fixed !

Best Answer

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