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Windows 8: Enable Flash On Any Website In Modern Internet Explorer 10

A few weeks ago, the Internet community discovered that the “Modern” version of Internet Explorer 10 would only run Adobe Flash on specific websites handpicked by Microsoft. The reasoning behind this is understandable: the Modern UI Internet Explorer 10 is to run on Windows RT tablets like Microsoft Surface, and Flash was never really made with touchscreens in mind, so Microsoft’s engineers went through hundreds of websites to determine which offer Flash content that works fine on a touchscreen and doesn’t affect battery life.

Now, obviously, Microsoft’s engineers couldn’t scour the entire web for Flash content, so it is quite likely that one of your favorite Flash-enabled websites didn’t make it to the whitelist. Thankfully, we’ve come across a nice way to manually add your favorite websites to Internet Explorer 10’s whitelist.

The ‘hack’ comes from Marvin_S over on XDA-Developers. It involves switching off a setting, editing an XML file and pressing a few buttons. If you think you can do that, start following our guide below.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

Launch Internet Explorer 10’s Desktop version. You can do this by clicking on the wrench icon in Modern Internet Explorer 10 and then clicking on “View on the desktop”.

Once you’re in Internet Explorer 10 Desktop, press the “ALT” key to show Menu bar. From there, go to Tools > Compatibility View Settings.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

In the window that pops up, uncheck “Download updated compatibility lists from Microsoft”.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

Now, go back to your Desktop. Launch File Explorer and navigate to:

C:\Users\<Your User Name Here>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IECompatData\

Right click on “iecompatdata.xml”, select Open with, and choose Notepad.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

In Notepad, press CTRL + F and search for “</Flash>”.

Now, right above “</Flash>”, you can add your favorite Flash-enabled website by adding:

<domain>WEBSITE GOES HERE</domain>

Just like the way we added addictivetips.com, as you can see in the screenshot below.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

Press CTRL + S to save the file.

Go back to the Modern Internet Explorer 10 in Start Screen. Press Win + I, go to Internet Options and click “Delete” under “Delete Browsing History”.

How To Enable Adobe Flash On Any Website Under Internet Explorer 10 Metro

Once it says “Deleted!”, you can navigate to the website you added earlier to find Flash content enabled just like you would expect on Internet Explorer 10 Desktop or any other desktop web browser.

As always, we have tested this method ourselves before covering it, so it is confirmed working.

Liked the “Win + I” keyboard shortcut? Be sure to check out our list of 30 new keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8.

[via XDA-Developers]

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