The new Internet Explorer first run screen

The first run screen for IE7 has been reworked as you will see from the graphic below. 

Note that the IE7 Phishing Filter is *off* by default, as is participation in the Customer Experience Improvement Program.  Clear Type is enabled.

I strongly recommend you enable the Phishing Filter.  If you do not have an LCD monitor, you may wish to disable ClearType.  The option can also be managed via Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, Multimedia tab. 

After you have selected your options, make sure you click on the "Save Settings" button or link.  I found this a bit confusing because nothing seemed to happen when I clicked on either the link or the button, but when I restarted IE the first run page did not reappear. 

Note: If the "Save Settings" button or link does not work for you, open regedit and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Search for the DWORD "SearchMigrated" and make sure it is set to 1 (that's the number one).

Problems with the first run page

Sometimes the first run page reappears.  Possible causes of this problem are:

1)  The Welcome page does not load completely for whatever reason.

2)  Scripting has been disabled (note: blocking ActiveX does not cause this problem)

In such circumstances, the DWORD "RunOnceHasShown" may not be created in the following registry key, or it may not be set to a value of 1.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceHasShown

If your system is stuck at the initial IE7 welcome page, shut down IE, check for the existence of the RunOnceHasShown DWORD and set it to a value of 1.

Also, ensure that the following key is set to 1: 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceComplete

Also make sure you have disabled anything that may prevent IE from writing to the registry such as anti-malware applications:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/10/11/IE7-Installation-and-Anti_2D00_Malware-Applications.aspx

Problems with ClearType 

There was a bug where ClearType continues to affect OE even when disabled.  The fix is to navigate to key:

HKCU\Identities\{56561DBF-E736-4516-B63E-80BB99D3E6AD}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Trident\Main\

Create STRING UseClearType if it does not exist.  Set value to no.


The IE7 First Run screen

Published Thu, Oct 19 2006 21:42 by sandi
Filed under:

Comments

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Thursday, October 19, 2006 2:50 PM by Pete

All of the above happened to me.

That was even following your strict instructions.

Sandi:  Likely something external to IE is stopping the page from loading completely.  I am seeing several reports of this problem though - all of the new comments to my blog are about the same thing (the runonce page).  Did you disable anti-virus, crashguards, anti-malware applications?

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 3:03 PM by Teresa

We have public resource machines which clear the profile each time the machine is rebooted. By doing this it seems we are getting this IE 7 Welcome screen each time the machines are rebooted. Can you tell me if there is a registry key we can push down as a group policy to prevent this from happening. We need one that will disable this screen all together, we do not want this screen to appear not even the first time. Thanks,

Sandi: The registry keys I mentioned are required to stop the welcome screen from appearing,  Alternatively, you can examine what's available to you via gpedit.msc. I haven't had a close look to see if your particular option is available, but it may be.

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Sunday, November 12, 2006 9:55 AM by Steve E

What can be pushed from a management station to shut off the runonce thing on machine level?

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Sunday, November 12, 2006 11:03 AM by Steve E

>> Can you tell me if there is a registry key we can push down as a group policy to prevent this from happening <<

How about importing c:\windows\inf\inetres.adm from a XP machine to use as a GPO template?

Sandi says: I keep things much simpler; simply create a reg file and push it out to all users using the network log-in script.  I also use the login script when I need to push out bug fixes and things like that,

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Thursday, November 23, 2006 5:54 AM by Symo

The reg hack didn't work until I tried HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE which did - nice one. I'm still hating IE7 with a passion though so far :(

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Thursday, November 23, 2006 5:55 AM by Symo

The reg hacks didn't work until I tried HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE which did - nice one. I'm still hating IE7 with a passion though so far :(

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Monday, November 27, 2006 7:44 PM by MILES STONE

HI,

NOT ONLY DO I GRET THE RUNONCE SCREEN, IT IS PRECEDED BY A SCRIPT RUN ERROR AS FOLLOWS:

"AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED IN THE SCRIPT OF THIS PAGE"

THEN THE FOLLOWING IS LISTED:

1) LIN3 2

2) CHAR 4996

3)EEEOR OBJECT REQUEST

4)CODE 0

5)URI HTTP://WWW.MICROSOFT.COM/COMMUNITIES/NEWSGROUPS/LIST/EN-US/DEFAULT.ASPX?

6) I AM THEN ASKED,"DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE RUNNING SCRIPTSON THIS PAGE?

7) IF I ANSWER YES OR NO THIS MESSAGE DISAPPEARS!!

8) HOW DO I REPAIR THESE MESSAGES AND JUST GET TO MICROSOFT.COM (HOME PAGE DIRECTLY)

9) aLSO IN CONTROL PANEL UNDER ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS, IE7 IS NOT LISTED!!!

PLEASE HELP,

MILES

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:42 AM by rugerx

The reg hack didn't work until I tried HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE which did - nice one. I'm still hating IE7 with a passion though so far :(

Symo

Symo was on the money, the reg items DO work from local machine.  Thank God.  We have terminal servers with 1000's of users.

MS really blew it with this one.  We are going to migrate to Firefox finally and just hide IE.

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:21 PM by old boarder

i fixed my run once problem with the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceHasShown

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceComplete

now when i try to change the default search engine, as soon as i select a new search provider i get an error on page message.

any ideas?

old boarder

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Thursday, November 30, 2006 2:09 AM by Wouter Debo

Hello. I have the same problem with the first page (runonce2.aspx), but when i go to the registry, i don't have the keys

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceHasShown

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\RunOnceComplete

Maybe because i have a Windows XP Pro Dutch? However, the internet explorer 7 is the english version.

Anyone an idea?

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Thursday, November 30, 2006 3:05 AM by Wouter Debo

My problem was solved by installing the dutch version of internet explorer 7. (same language as my WinXP Pro).

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Saturday, December 02, 2006 6:07 AM by Jeff

I am trying to fix the above and keep getting your page from the MS help page.  In simple English how is this problem fixed?

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Monday, December 11, 2006 5:41 AM by Dave R

I have solved this problem by applying the following setting with GPEDIT.

1. Start > Run

2. type gpedit.msc press OK

3. Under 'Computer Configuration' extend the 'Administrative Templates' folder

4. Extend the 'Windows Components' folder.

5. Highlight or select the 'Internet Explorer' folder

6. In the right-side panel is an option called 'Prevent performance of First Run Customize Settings' - double click to enter this option.

7. Select the radio button labelled 'Enabled' and in the Drop-down menu labelled 'Select your choice', set this to 'Go directly to home page.

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Monday, December 11, 2006 6:30 AM by sysadmin

This Works,copy and paste the lines into a .reg file and import to your Registry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]

"RunOnceHasShown"=dword:00000001

"SearchMigrated"=dword:00000001

"RunOnceComplete"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]

"Search Page"="http://www.google.com"

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:30 PM by hal

the prevent first run thing worked perfectly thanx

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Monday, June 09, 2008 4:39 AM by Alan

Dave R

Thanks for your advice on this.  At last I have found a fix that works.

Alan

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Sunday, July 06, 2008 8:01 PM by ziomal

Just use Firefox. Why would you expose yourself to poorly written application like IE7? Fixes and problems from the very first run on a freshly installed computer... unbelievable...

# re: The new Internet Explorer first run screen

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:32 PM by Von

Thanks, Dave R!

GPEDIT worked perfectly. Unfortunately, my job requires the use of IE for certain intranet/internet sites. Derp!

If it were my choice we'd be using firefox for everything. But alas, I don't make the rules here. :P