When you install or download Internet Explorer 5, the Compatibility check box may be unavailable.
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This behavior can occur for any of the following reasons:
- you are not running Internet Explorer 4.
- you are installing Internet Explorer 5 from a download that does not include the Compatibility Mode option.
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To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method:
- If you are running Internet Explorer 4 and installing Internet Explorer 5 from a download, download Internet Explorer 5 again and select the Compatibility Mode option.
For additional information about downloading Compatibility mode, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
197311 How to Install and Use Compatibility Mode in Internet Explorer 5
- If you are running Internet Explorer 2.0 or 3.x, upgrade to Internet
Explorer 4 before downloading or installing Internet Explorer 5.
- If you are already running Internet Explorer 5 and you need to download
or install Compatibility mode, uninstall Internet Explorer 5 and then
install or download it again using the steps in the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base article:
197311 How to Install and Use Compatibility Mode
in Internet Explorer 5
For information about uninstalling Internet Explorer 5, please see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
193934 How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 5 Beta
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Purpose of Compatibility Mode
Some Web content can be affected by changes to the HTML parsing engine or
object (scripting) model incorporated into new versions of Internet
Explorer. For this reason, Web page authors or developers need to test
their content with each version of Internet Explorer for which their
content is designed. Prior to Internet Explorer 5, testing Web site
compatibility with various versions of Internet Explorer required multiple
computers or dual-boot configurations. With Compatibility mode, you can
run an Internet Explorer 4-compatible browser side-by-side with Internet
Explorer 5. Compatibility mode is designed for testing HTML parsing and
script issues and is not intended to be used as a primary Web browser.
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Retired KB Content DisclaimerThis article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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