Retire IE mode and keep your Java apps

Many organisations still open Java applets and Java Web Start applications, including Oracle Forms and Oracle E-Business Suite, through Internet Explorer (IE) mode in Microsoft Edge. CheerpJ runs the same applications in modern browsers, so desktop administrators can retire IE mode on their own timetable.

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Why Java applications still open in IE mode

  1. IE mode keeps the Java plug-in available

    Chrome stopped loading the Java plug-in in 2015, Firefox and Safari in 2017 and 2018, and Internet Explorer 11 reached the end of support in 2022. IE mode runs Internet Explorer’s engine inside Edge, which still loads it, so applets keep working there.

  2. Newer Java releases don’t bring applets back

    Oracle removed the browser plug-in and Java Web Start from Java 11, so staff computers stay on Java 8 for these applications, and desktop administrators keep that Java patched.

  3. IE mode has a minimum support date

    Microsoft supports IE mode in Edge through at least 2029, and has promised at least a year’s notice before it retires IE mode.

  4. IE mode depends on Windows

    IE mode relies on Windows components, and Windows 10 reached the end of support on 14 October 2025. Desktop administrators also keep the sites that need IE mode in the Enterprise Mode Site List.

Two ways to run your applications with CheerpJ

1 Browser extension

Through a CheerpJ browser extension

There is one for applets and one for Java Web Start applications, so the applications and the pages that launch them stay as they are. The extensions run in Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers.

Your desktop administrators deploy them through Group Policy or Intune and set the licence by policy, where it activates offline. A self-hosted version serves networks that can’t reach the Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons, including air-gapped ones.

Get the browser extensions
2 Your launch page

On your own launch page

Serve CheerpJ from your own web servers and start the application from a page there. It then runs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, and staff computers need only a browser.

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For your security review

The browser sandbox

The application runs inside the browser’s sandbox, as a web page does, and reaches files and the network through browser APIs.

Files move by upload and download

Users upload files with a button in CheerpJ’s title bar, and files from the application arrive as browser downloads.

The browser’s network rules

HTTP requests from the application follow the browser’s same-origin and CORS policies.

Java leaves staff computers

With the applications running in the browser, desktop administrators can remove Java 8 from staff computers and turn IE mode off.

Read the full security review

Retiring IE mode with CheerpJ

Case study

~75% fewer Java-related vulnerabilities in its Rapid7 scores

CF Fertilisers ran Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 as an applet in IE mode on Java 8u311. It removed Java and IE mode from all user computers at its UK and US sites, deploying CheerpJ through Group Policy and Intune from a custom store we host. Users reported faster logins.

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Tell us which applications open in IE mode and how they launch, and we’ll help you plan an evaluation.

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