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Cannot change your home page in Internet Explorer

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Warning

The retired, out-of-support Internet Explorer 11 desktop application has been permanently disabled through a Microsoft Edge update on certain versions of Windows 10. For more information, see Internet Explorer 11 desktop app retirement FAQ.

This article provides the steps that you can follow to solve the issue that you cannot change your home page in Internet Explorer.

Original product version:   Internet Explorer
Original KB number:   2493729

Symptoms

When you use Internet Explorer, you may experience any of the following symptoms:

  • Your Internet Explorer home page has been changed to a different website than the one that you selected.
  • You cannot change your home page selection to the website that you want.
  • You reset your home page to the website that you want in Internet Options. However, after you restart the computer, your home page selection has again been changed to a different website.

Cause

This problem can occur for several reasons. Your computer may be infected with a virus, malicious code may have been run on the computer, or you may have installed a third-party software that changed your home page setting.

Before you use the method that is described in this article, make sure that your computer has not been infected with a virus or malicious code by running an antivirus program. For more information, see Intelligent security.

Resolution

To fix this problem manually, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, in the Start Search box, type regedit.

  2. In the Programs list, click Regedit.exe.

    • If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click Continue.

  3. Locate and then right-click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\

  4. Click Delete.

  5. Locate and then check the following three registry subkeys, and then change the values of the Default_Page_URL and Start Page entry to your desired website.

    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
    • HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
    • HKEY_USERS\Default\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

  6. Restart the computer.

More information

For more information about how to change your browser home page in Microsoft Edge, see Change your browser home page.