If you’re reading this, it’s probably because Internet Explorer 8 starts up in “No Add-ons” mode when you double-click on the desktop icon, right? Maybe you are getting a message like this:

Internet Explorer is currently running without add-ons

All Internet Explorer add-ons, such as ActiveX controls or toolbars, are turned off. Some web pages might not display correctly.

To continue to your home page, click the Home button.

To browse using add-ons, close Internet Explorer and then start it again.

Whoops! This doesn’t occur very often, but it does happen. Basically, it’s a bug in the IE 8 installation script that creates the wrong icon on your desktop. There are a couple of ways to fix this.

Method 1 – Use Automatic Fix

The easiest way to get IE 8 loading with add-ons again is to simply delete the current IE 8 icon on your desktop and then download the following file from Microsoft, which contains the fix.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9643462

Run this program and it should go ahead and create a new IE 8 icon on your desktop that will no longer open IE 8 in No Add-ons mode. Easy! Not so fast.

If you are using Windows 7 and are having this problem, this little fix won’t work. This is because in Windows 7, you cannot modify the registry for the special Internet Explorer icon. Annoying!

Method 2 – Add a Shortcut to IE 8

Since you can’t modify the special IE 8 icon in Windows 7, you’ll just have to do with a desktop shortcut. First, delete the current IE 8 icon on your desktop.

Then click on Start and locate the Internet Explorer icon in your Start menu. It should already be there, but if not, you might have to click on the All Programs folder.

ie8 no addons

Now right-click on the IE icon and drag it over to your desktop. When you let you, click on the Create Shortcuts here or Copy Here link.

create shortcut here

What I don’t like about this method is that you will always have that annoying shortcut arrow on the desktop icon. As of right now, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of it in Windows 7.

Method 3 – Manually Add Special IE Icon

If you are running Windows XP or Vista, you can also manually add the special IE 8 icon to your desktop. If you have Windows 7, you may as well give this a shot too and see if it works.

First, delete the current IE icon and then open Notepad. Paste the following lines into a new Notepad file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel] "{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu] "{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}"=dword:00000000

Click File and then Save As. In the File name box, type in Ie.reg and choose All Files as the File type. Exit notepad.

Now double-click on the Ie.reg file on your desktop and when prompted by the Windows Registry to add this new value, click Yes. You should now have the special IE icon on your desktop! Enjoy!