How to open Windows 8 pinned website tiles on the desktop Internet Explorer [Bonus]

Open Windows 8 pinned website tiles on desktop IE

Being able to pin websites to the Windows 8 Start Screen is a convenient feature to get where you want to go faster, but if you noticed by default any web page that you pinned will open in the Internet Explorer Metro style version. This may be something that not every user is going to like, if this is your case this is going to help you modify that behavior and open web tiles on the desktop.

Follow the next steps to open pinned websites in the desktop version of Internet Explorer:

1. Even though there are two versions of IE (desktop and Metro) in Windows 8, both share a common place to configure settings, and they are all located in the Internet Options. In the Start Screen type: Internet Options, click Settings below the search box, and from the left click Internet Options.

Internet Options - Windows 8

2. From the Internet Options navigate to the Programs tab, and check the option “Open Internet Explorer tiles on the desktop”. Then click Apply and OK.

Open Internet Explorer tiles on the desktop

That’s it, now every time you pin a new web page to the Start Screen and you try to open it, it will launch in the desktop version of Internet Explorer.

Bonus: How to pin a web page to the Start Screen

Pinning (or bookmarking) a web page to the Windows 8 Start Screen is pretty simple, just visit the web page, click the pin button and select Pin to Start.

Pin to Start - Windows 8

From the Desktop version of Internet Explorer. Open a new tab, right-click the site and select Add site to the Start Menu.

Add site to Start Menu - Windows 8

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.