HowTo configure Internet Explorer
Unlike other browsers supported by Selenium, Internet Explorer sometimes requires manual configuration to set up. This page lists the known situations where this is the case.
Howitzer uses Selenium's InternetExplorerDriver to drive IE. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not yet made IE 11 fully compatible with this driver. As a result, you may sometimes get exceptions when starting IE via Howitzer.
To work around this problem, you need to apply a registry key. Please right-click on one of the two links below (depending on your version of Windows) and select Save as... to pick a download location:
Download Registry key fix for IE 11 (32-bit Windows)
Download Registry key fix for IE 11 (64-bit Windows)
Then, apply the registry patch by double-clicking on it and confirming. This should resolve unsupported issues with IE 11.
(Source: https://code.google.com/p/selenium/issues/detail?id=6511)
Another, more recent problem is caused by Windows update KB3025390, which was released by Microsoft in December 2014. This update breaks Selenium's support for Internet Explorer 11. You may find a workaround in the Selenium issue on the subject. If not, the only way we know of to get IE 11 to work again is to uninstall this update from the Windows Update management panel. This problem may also result in the InvalidSelectorException described below.
IE default settings prevent execute tests correctly. So you have to update IE's security settings. To do this, select "Internet options" from the Tools menu (or the gear icon in the toolbar in later versions). Open the Security tab. At the bottom of the dialog for each of the zones ("Internet", "Local intranet", "Trusted sites" and "Restricted sites"), you should see a check box labeled "Enable Protected Mode". Set the value of the check box to the same value, either checked or unchecked, for each zone. In the following screenshots, the check box has been unchecked for all zones:
(Source: http://jimevansmusic.blogspot.com)
If you run local HTML pages (ie. HTML files residing on your harddisk) with Howitzer in IE, you may see a popup saying "Internet Explorer restricted this webpage from running scripts or ActiveX controls":
Also, please go to "Internet options" in the Tools menu (or the gear icon in newer versions). Open the Advanced tab. Scroll down to "Security" and select "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer". Here is a screenshot for reference:
If the error persists and you are running Internet Explorer 11, then it is likely that it is Windows update KB3025390 which is causing the issue. Please see above for more information.