What is the future of mshta.exe since Internet Explorer is officially going away?

David McDivitt 216

I have a lot of applications written as HTA files. When Internet Explorer goes away will I still be able to run these? I like HTA because I get the best of all worlds, using HTML, JavaScript, a web browser, and working with files on the computer.

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Sam of Simple Samples 5,546 Reputation points

2021-05-21T02:25:48.483+00:00

See Lifecycle FAQ - Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. It says Internet Explorer is a component of the Windows operating system. In other words, IE is not going away. That article also says Internet Explorer 11 will continue receiving security updates and technical support for the lifecycle of the version of Windows on which it is installed. In other words, IE will always be a part of Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows.

If the purpose if a HTA is to use HTML as a UI then there are alternatives with better support.

I do not know if there is a VBScript version of Single Page Applications (SPAs) but that might work. Otherwise, a SPA using JavaScript might work.

An ASP.Net Core application can host itself in a browser. An ASP.Net Core application can use Blazor that provides Single Page Applications (SPAs), so that might be similar to a HTA. If you go that route then prepare to be confused by the similarity of names; Blazor uses Razor, like other ASP.Net Core applications use. You can fiddle with Blazor in BlazorFiddle.

Something even newer is .Net MAUI. You can develop a .Net MAUI application that uses Razor for the UI. Since they would be a desktop application they would (like a HTA) have more access to resources, such as files, than an application in a browser. You probably do not need your applications to execute in Android, iOS or macOS (Linux later) but there would be much more support of .Net MAUI applications.

The only advantages I can think of of HTAs is that they can be developed using a plain text editor and they have more access to resources outside the browser.
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Mr. Beedell, Roke Julian Lockhart 6 Reputation points

2022-07-28T01:48:30.387+00:00

Windows 11 has modified this. Internet Explorer is currently possible to remove via "ms-settings:optionalfeatures" and "file:///%SystemDrive%/Windows/System32/OptionalFeatures.exe".

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-07-30T03:15:13.703+00:00

On Windows 11, build 22000.739, I don't see any such item. There is only an option to turn Edge IE Mode on or off.

But it's irrelevant, because HTAs don't use IE and removing IE does not remove any of the files that HTAs require, such as MSHTML.dll or MSHTA.exe.

Sam of Simple Samples 5,546 Reputation points

2022-12-23T22:33:01.153+00:00

I updated this with suggested alternatives.
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7 additional answers

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2021-07-26T01:47:39.53+00:00

HTAs are launched by MSHTA.exe and rendered by the Trident MSHTML engine included with Windows. You can uninstall Internet Explorer or Edge and HTAs will continue to work. There are specific settings you can put in your HTA to control what compatibility mode the HTA runs in, but none of those modes require the Internet Explorer or Edge application to be present. HTAs continue to work in Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11, but the rendering engine is limited to IE 11 or Legacy Edge capabilities.

It's a shame that Microsoft stopped updating the HTA infrastructure, but at least they did not remove the technology from the OS. You can still write HTAs in VBScript or JavaScript and they'll work just fine.

Feel free to ask me anything related to HTAs. I spend a LOT of hours recently writing a tool called WinSetView which has an HTA interface. You can find it on GitHub.
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Lackern Xu 11 Reputation points

2021-12-29T03:22:53.557+00:00

Hi @Les Ferch ,
Do you know if HTA files can be code signed? and how to go about doing it?

David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2021-12-29T13:23:33.09+00:00

@Lackern Xu You would need to restrict MSHTA.exe to only run under certain conditions, then write a pre-processor to examine the code and launch MSHTA.exe. You could provide difficulty for someone wanting to circumvent unsigned HTAs but could not prevent it.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2021-12-30T03:00:36.283+00:00

Although Microsoft's SignTool supports .js (for JScript), .vbs (for VBScript), .jse (for encoded JScript), .vbe (for encoded VBScript), PowerShell scripts: .ps1 , .psm1, .ps1xml, and Windows Script Files: .wsf, it throws an error when you try to sign an HTA file. See this SO question and answer. So the short answer is No.

However, you could try VBSEdit. It incudes the ability to convert an HTA to EXE which could then be signed. You can download and use VBSEdit in evaluation mode to see if this will meet your needs.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2021-12-30T03:09:40.277+00:00

@David McDivitt @Lackern Xu may just want to sign his/her HTAs so that, when downloaded, they don't throw a message saying they're from an "unknown publisher".

Sam of Simple Samples 5,546 Reputation points

2021-12-30T03:19:58.817+00:00

I think you are replying to OP. OP did not ask about code signing, correct?

Sam of Simple Samples 5,546 Reputation points

2021-12-30T03:22:44.147+00:00

Asking if HTA files can be code signed seems off-topic and would best be asked as a new question.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2021-12-30T03:30:17.613+00:00

Yes, I should have said @Lackern Xu instead of "OP". Reply corrected.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-07-30T03:18:38.817+00:00

Correction: The statement "the rendering engine is limited to IE 11 or Legacy Edge capabilities" should just be "the rendering engine is limited to IE 11 capabilities". The Edge browser (legacy or Chromium based) has nothing to do with HTAs.

Greg B 1 Reputation point

2022-09-19T18:09:30.4+00:00

I have noticed that the SysMenu="no" option in the .hta is no longer hiding the close button. I have a popup for users to be forced to enroll in an application and suddenly they can now close the box. Has there been a change to the windows files the .hta calls?

Thanks

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-09-20T02:12:49.673+00:00

There's been no change in the way HTAs work.

Possibly your HTA is now running in IE=10 or IE=11 mode. In those modes, the hta:application section is not supported. Most HTAs are, therefore, set to run in IE=9 mode. If your HTA was modified to include <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=10"> (or IE=11 or IE=edge) that would cause the issue. Note that IE=edge has nothing to do with the Edge browser. It just means run in the latest mode available, which is IE=11.

I think it's more likely that your HTA doesn't explicitly specify a mode. If it starts with just <html>, the HTA will run in IE=5 mode by default. If it starts with <!DOCTYPE html> it will run in IE=7 mode by default. More details here.

If your HTA does not explicitly set a mode, it can be overridden by the FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION registry setting. More details here

It's possible that some other software added a FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION registry setting and that's causing your HTA to run in a different mode. However, when that situation occurs the HTA usually stops with an error because IE=9 mode and above are much more case sensitive and it's unlikely an HTA, written in IE=5 or IE=7 mode, has everything in the correct case for a higher mode, but it's possible.

If you can post a minimal HTA that reproduces the issue, I'll have a better idea of what's going on.

Greg B 1 Reputation point

2022-09-20T12:54:22.237+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I will start with a simple .hta I found online to test whether it is the one I am using or something more.

I have tried this on my work and home PC and get the same results where there is now a min/max and close option in the top right.

I do not have an entry for the FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION in the registry.

It wont let me upload the file (renamed as .txt ot .log) so I will just post below

<html> <head> <title>Test</title> </head>

<HTA:APPLICATION SysMenu=”no” > <body> <p>This HTA has no Close button.</p> </body> </html>

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-09-20T13:18:38.99+00:00

That was easy. There are pretty (i.e. curved quotes) around the "no". That's a common issue on code posted on older Microsoft sites. They could fix that in all the posted code with one simple script, but no, the corrupted sample code remains year after year (actually decade after decade).

Change the line to SysMenu="no" or simply SysMenu=no. Quotes are optional, but must be the simple straight ones. Case is also flexible on these items (but not necessarily everywhere in HTAs, depending on mode).

Test again after making that change and let me know the results.

Note: You really should force all your HTAs to run in IE=9 mode (and enable UTF-8 to support pretty symbols) by adding this line after <head>:

<meta charset="UTF-8" http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9">

Rakesh Bhatia 1 Reputation point

2022-12-20T14:23:33.01+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for information on mshta.

Can we use mshta with mfa for an application? We are getting an issue saying IE7 is being used which prevents mfa. So users are having to enter mfa every single time - which is not ideal.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-20T19:52:24.38+00:00

Seriously more details needed. Where/how are you getting the message "IE7 is being used"? Do you already have an HTA or are your referring to a web page that users are running via IE? Or perhaps you're talking about a custom exe that is running an instance of IE? And why IE 7 and not IE 11?

Rakesh Bhatia 1 Reputation point

2022-12-23T10:45:48.377+00:00

Following is .hta code I use - within comments I have tried to explain behaviour using different meta tag options. There are 2 main issues. in ie=9 mode, application opens in a browser window instead of .hta. The other issue is that in ie=10 or 11 or ie=edge, it seems myapp has null reference.

<html> <head> <HTA:APPLICATION ID="myapp" APPLICATIONNAME="My App 2.0" CAPTION="yes" BORDER="thin" WINDOWSTATE="maximize" SYSMENU="yes" CONTEXTMENU="no" NAVIGABLE="no" SCROLL="no" MINIMIZEBUTTON="yes" MAXIMIZEBUTTON="yes" SINGLEINSTANCE="no" INNERBORDER="no" application navigable="yes"

>  

   

Rakesh Bhatia 1 Reputation point

2022-12-23T10:46:00.803+00:00








<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=10">





<title>My Application</title>
<script language="javascript">
function go() {
var offset = myapp.commandLine.indexOf('http');
var myurl = myapp.commandLine.substring(offset);
window.location.href = myurl;
}
</script>

<body style="border:0; margin:0" onload='go();'>
</body>
</html>

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T16:23:01.83+00:00

You have a typo in your script. First you have NAVIGABLE="no" and then application navigable="yes". Those are getting evaluated differently in IE=9 mode. Here is a minimal example showing that you can open a web page in the same window using IE=9 mode:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <HTA:Application ID=oHTA Navigable=yes > <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9"> </head> <body> <script language="javascript"> location.href = "http://toastytech.com/evil"; </script> </body> </html>

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T16:23:44.147+00:00

Once you switch to IE=10 or IE=11 mode, the HTA:Application section is no longer supported, so the necessary navigable=yes option is ignored. You can work around this issue by splitting your script into two files. Here is an example of how to load a web page in the HTA window in IE=11 mode:

IE11Test.hta

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <HTA:Application ID=oHTA Navigable=yes > <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9"> </head> <body> <script language="javascript"> location.href = document.URL.slice(7,-4)+".htm"; </script> </body> </html>

IE11Test.htm

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=11"> </head> <body> <script language="javascript"> location.href = "http://toastytech.com/evil"; </script> </body> </html>
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David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2022-12-23T18:23:12.653+00:00
I make HTA apps frequently, copying one I have then modifying. Each has it's own folder but pulls a common javascript and style sheet file from the parent folder. The apps open in their own window and I have complete control over the window for size and position. Not declaring the browser type is best.

<html><head><title>Overtime</title> <hta:application applicationname="Overtime" id="hta_overtime" showintaskbar="yes" scroll="no" singleinstance="yes" /> <link href="..\_common\sheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="..\_common\common.j$" language="javascript"> </script> <script src="app.hta.j$" language="javascript"> </script> </head> <body onload="setup();" onunload="return save();" onresize="wsize();">
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Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T18:56:29.24+00:00

Not declaring the document type or browser means your HTAs will be running in IE 5 mode. If you're happy with IE 5 capabilities, then that's fine. My app, WinSetView, is set to run in IE 8 mode for various technical reasons, but I usually set HTAs to run in IE 9 mode. And, as demonstrated by the code I posted, you can run in IE 11 mode as well for the most up to date HTML/CSS capabilities possible in HTAs.

Also, if you distribute an HTA without setting the browser mode, you can't be sure the target machines won't change the mode via a registry setting. Your code that works perfect in IE 5 mode can easily error out or display incorrectly on a machine set for a higher mode.

David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2022-12-23T19:04:34.407+00:00

Not setting the browser mode means it will always use the highest mode, therefore always staying current. I do the same with web applications.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T19:45:55.633+00:00

The rules for web development don't always apply to HTAs.

Not declaring the browser mode in an HTA absolutely does not mean it will run in the highest mode. If you declare a doctype only, HTAs will, by default, run in IE 7 mode. With no declaration at all, they run in IE 5 mode by default. The defaults can be overridden by a registry setting (which is trouble).

I guarantee that any sufficiently sophisticated HTA will fail if run in the wrong mode. You do not want mode unpredictability with HTAs.

The MSHTML engine topped out at IE 11 mode in 2013. Other than some niche Windows 7 machines, you're not going to encounter a machine with an older rendering engine. And you'll never see newer. With HTAs, it's all about picking your mode and making sure it runs in that mode on all machines.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T19:47:54.7+00:00

But let's pretend this is the year 2013 and there's a mix of MSHTML versions in the wild. You could then set the mode to IE=edge, which means run with the highest mode available (it has nothing to do with the edge browser) and code your HTA to detect browser mode and have different code sections... in theory. In reality, you would have to limit the compatibility to IE modes 8-11. Prior to that, the differences are too great to deal with in one script.

Since we're well beyond 2013, it's not worth worrying about supporting different modes in the same script. Just pick one that works for you and make sure the machine does not change it on you.

For WinSetView, IE 8 mode allows it to work on Windows 7 machines where IE was not updated. That seems unlikely, but people still build new Windows 7 machines without bothering to update IE. Other than that niche, you can safely set your HTA to IE=11.

David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2022-12-23T20:59:12.44+00:00

I never have any functional issues, but I'm the only one who uses my HTA apps!

My HTAs always start with a few controls as a skeleton and all the content is built with javascript. I thought about making a hybrid app that starts as an HTA but pulls pages from a web server, too. Just a thought so I can do something different. No server-side code is needed since all the code runs at the client. No page posts back to the server, no request, and no session. But if I started an app as an HTA, then go to server page requests, I may be able to use workstation resources. When opening a new window, the original window can pass a reference to itself as an argument, exposing all its functions and variables. I would have done this but can't think of a need or use.

Les Ferch 46 Reputation points

2022-12-23T21:59:10.287+00:00

I never have any functional issues, but I'm the only one who uses my HTA apps!

Of course, that makes a huge difference. My app has to work on Windows 7 through 11, in any country (with any regional settings), any monitor (or multiple monitors) at any scaling factor, any font or font size, administrator or standard user, mapped drive letter or UNC path, read-only directory, system protected directory, and so on. It's definitely a challenge.

But I'm surprised you haven't hit an issue where you said "this should work". What result do you get when you run this code?:

alert(document.documentMode)

If it says 11, then I'd guess you must have a registry entry something like this:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION] "mshta.exe"=dword:00002af8

David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2022-12-23T22:34:19.057+00:00

I see what you mean. It says 5.
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Leon Laude 85,861 Reputation points

2021-05-20T13:46:51.23+00:00

Hi @David McDivitt ,

Microsoft Edge has an Internet Explorer (IE) mode which you can use to run older applications.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/edge-ie-mode

----------

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Best regards,
Leon
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David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2021-05-20T18:29:10.7+00:00

When opening an HTA file with mshta.exe will it render through Edge if IE is not present?

Leon Laude 85,861 Reputation points

2021-05-20T18:34:29.983+00:00

I’ve added the ms-edge tag to your post, perhaps more subject matter experts in this field may be able to assist you.

You can also ask over here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum

BobC 0 Reputation points

2025-01-19T22:59:51.62+00:00

Most .HTA applications will not work in IE or Edge. They were written for HTA specifically because HTA provided some capability that IE (and Edge) do not. Most commonly access to user files.

BobC 0 Reputation points

2025-01-19T23:03:55.2066667+00:00

@David McDivitt As explained earlier, MSHTA has its own hosting application and does not use any installed browser. The hosting app was apparently based on a copy/subset of the version of IE that was current at the time.
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Leon Laude 85,861 Reputation points

2021-05-21T06:04:52.39+00:00

Here’s a recent blog post by Microsoft explaining this in more detail:
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/05/19/the-future-of-internet-explorer-on-windows-10-is-in-microsoft-edge/
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David McDivitt 216 Reputation points

2021-05-21T11:47:53.837+00:00

@Leon Laude , the article is good, but does not mention HTA files, which is beyond Internet Explorer mode. It makes sense Microsoft would not leave HTA files nonfunctional, but it would be nice if they would make a direct statement regrading this so people do not have to infer and assume.

Leon Laude 85,861 Reputation points

2021-05-21T12:10:45.587+00:00

They never really go into detail with these, I'd ask maybe in the dedicated Internet Explorer forum, perhaps the experts there might be able to assist you further:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum
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What is the future of mshta.exe since Internet Explorer is officially going away?

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