We recently found the need to publish Internet Explorer 8 through XenApp 6, due to a web application requiring a specific configuration. However, anytime you use Internet Explorer on a Windows Server, the Enhanced Internet Security is on by default. Normally leaving this setting on is a good thing for security reasons, but when you have a server specifically designed for internet browsing, this may become more of an annoyance for users, and maybe even admins.
To Disable Enhanced Internet Security, open the Server Manager, and under Security Information, you’ll find a button to Configure IE ESC. You’ll be able to disable this setting for users and/or admins.
Now comes the part that isn’t so clear on how this works. By disabling IE ESC, you may notice that some users may still get the IE ESC pop up when trying to browse some websites. If IE ESC is disabled, why is the ESC popup still showing? Upon reviewing many registry tweaks online, and much trial and error, we determined that if a user had a profile on the XenApp server PRIOR to the setting being disabled, it stuck with the user’s profile as still being enabled. With ESC disabled, we deleted the user’s profile on the XenApp server, and when that user logged back in, IE ESC was working as intended.
Long story short, changing IE ESC does not appear to affect existing user accounts. New user accounts will pick up the current setting.