Finally pulling the plug.

Microsoft is officially pulling the plug on Internet Explorer. The news has been a long time coming, but the company has doubled down on the confirmation that as of June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer will no longer be available. In 2020, Microsoft first announced that it will cease support for the browser by 2021.

Retiring Internet Explorer is not expected to affect the Windows 10 Long-Term Servicing Channel, specifically used for devices that often stay the same over time, like MRI machines and air traffic control systems. It will also not affect Server Internet Explorer 11 desktop applications such as MSHTML (Trident) engine.

The nostalgic web browser has been an integral part of the Windows system for over 25 years. However, since the introduction of Edge in 2015, Microsoft has slowly been winding down on the usage of the old browser. In 2016, support for all previous versions ended, and Microsoft 365 and other apps will stop supporting IE 11 on August 17.

Those still using IE 11 have been urged to move to Edge or another preferred browser before June. Edge has included a built-in Internet Explorer mode for websites that may still require IE. This will come in handy for organisations still using the old apps and sites. Microsoft claims that it will support Edge’s IE mode until the end of 2029 so to give organisation and IT departments time to make their transitions away from the old web browser.