Internet Explorer Status Bar

by Kevin Donahue on December 28, 2002

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

So I'm going nuts for a week because I cannot get the status bar to appear by default when I launch Internet Explorer. There must be a fix, right? You betch ya!

To make the status bar appear whenever you open Internet Explorer:

1) With (only one) IE open, click View, select: Status Bar
2) Right-click on IE's Toolbar and select: "Lock the Toolbar"
3) Hold down the Ctrl key and click the close button (upper right)
4) Open Windows Explorer, click View, select: Status Bar
5) Right-click on Explorer's Toolbar and select: "Lock the Toolbar"
6) Click Tools | Folder Options | View tab
7) Click the "Apply to all folders" button. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the close button (upper right)
9) Open IE to any page, right-click on a link and select: "Open in New Window"
10)Verify that these Registry entries exist:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
"Show_StatusBar"="yes"
"Show_URLinStatusBar"="yes"

UPDATE: Further details on how to make the status bar appear in Internet Explorer.

start regedit (Start > Run > regedit )
go to HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
select "Show_StatusBar"
go to 'Permissions…' from Edit menu
click 'Advanced'
find your user name in the list & click 'edit' button
put a check next to 'Set value' under 'Deny'
OK, OK, OK, OK.

Hat Tip: AuctionHugh

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{ 1 trackback }

Rizwan's Public Log: March 24, 2003 at 7:23 pm

{ 45 comments }

w March 21, 2003 at 7:50 pm: HI, THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH. i was so DAMN angry with windows and IE ….. it is a very pityful program i must say. but thansk for getting this bar back up
Danzig April 9, 2003 at 5:53 am: hell thanks, this f*kin ie was driving me mad
Johny April 10, 2003 at 5:19 pm: WOW MAN ! Where did you find it ? Microsoft has done again a great thing. Why they do not build a fix for it ? Bastards.

Thanks again
Joel P. April 16, 2003 at 12:07 am: Gee, this is so intuitive. I don't know why I didn't figure it out on my own! Thanks for cracking the code and getting rid of this stupid bug.
dawn April 26, 2003 at 12:28 pm: I LOVE YOU KEVIN!!!
Kevin April 26, 2003 at 8:55 pm: OK, I love ya too, Dawn!
Sarah April 27, 2003 at 1:17 pm: Thanks so much! I don't know why this was so aggravating, but it was…. You've been a big help!
Bogdan May 3, 2003 at 6:32 am: Hi!

I don't mean to say what you're saying is wrong, but here's my traditional way to set all Explorer defaults (including size and positioning, arrange settings, status bar, everything):

1. Close all Explorer instances;
2. Start My Computer;
3. Set everything you want (repeat, including window size and status bar);
4. Close My Computer without browsing the computer or anything.

That did it for me.
Kevin May 3, 2003 at 9:44 am: Bogdan – I agree, there are several ways to do it. If someone where to use your method (which has a few more steps than shown here – btw), the status bar would show in every EXPLORER window, including Internet Explorer.

The tip shown above implements the status bar in INTERNET EXPLORER only so that user can maintain their settings in the other Explorer windows.

Thanks!
brian May 17, 2003 at 3:48 pm: oh thanks this was driving me crazy!
ja May 20, 2003 at 5:07 pm: Is it possible to "lock" these settings in? I've done this a couple of times, but inevitably after a couple of weeks some random factor has made things go back to normal, and I have to find these instructions and set it up again.
wayne May 31, 2003 at 8:27 pm: you ROCK.
aa June 4, 2003 at 4:30 am: Thanks a bunch for this tip.
diane June 18, 2003 at 11:32 pm: okay this doesn't help me. I don't have ANY menu bars. i'm talking
NOTHING. I can't get File, Edit, anything. what do I do?
I know there's a fix i just can't find the F-in thing!

diane
Adriano Castro June 19, 2003 at 9:09 pm: Thank you very much!

By the way, have you tried MyIE 2.0? Really good… Give it a go! It takes the speed and tabbed browsing functionalities of Mozilla, adds it to Opera's mouse gesture and combines it with IE compatibility and internet optimizations skills. Great browser: http://www.myie2.com

AD
eric July 9, 2003 at 5:27 pm: WOOHOOO!!!

thank you!
Kyle Green July 10, 2003 at 11:37 am: OK, I agree that all the above tips work, except for one case:

When I have a browser window open and I hit Ctrl-N to open a new window (or go to File->New->Window), the window opens without a status bar. So, all my windows have status bars except for these new ones. I am a micrometer from switching to Linux. Any suggestions???

Kyle
Earl Layman July 11, 2003 at 2:12 pm: I have a bad habit of Ctrl-Clicking to open links in new windows. And that damn status bar just keeps disappearing. Find myself typing Alt-V,B a hell of a lot.

I've noticed that it tends to disappear just after a site uses the javascript window.open('http://foo.com','status=no') method. Pop up ads do this a lot.

What's weird is that after using Kevin's fix, the status bar will show up on the first new window that opens under with "status=no". But then it goes missing from all subsequent new windows. You have to use the fix again.

Just a thought: A good pop-up blocker might end some of your frustrations. One that uses a proxy to strip out window.open code would probably work better than the kind that work by trapping new windows.
Matthias July 15, 2003 at 2:24 pm: It seems like you can get most of the way there just by choosing View->Status Bar in IE, then control-clicking the close button (thanks for that tip!). This makes a status bar appear when you open IE or right-click and open a link in a new window. But it doesn't make a status bar appear when you type ctrl-N to get a new window. However, the other steps seem to make that work too. The key step seems to be '7) Click the "Apply to all folders" button' after turning on the status bar in Windows Explorer (not IE). I'm sure deep in the bowels of Microsoft's code, there's a good reason for this.
Tal Sneh July 19, 2003 at 2:42 am: Thanks!
Simon Brown July 22, 2003 at 8:32 am: Nice one but obviously for random reasons the status bar disappears. The way around this might be to take the registry settings and place them in a .reg file so you can reload them next time the status bar disappears.
penny dreadful August 1, 2003 at 3:55 pm: This was a feature of IE, so who was the brainless turd that decided to make it almost impossible to use with the default setting? Some of those supposed software gurus really should have a good long shit next time and read the real news while they're at it. You are my man, Kev.
Ivan August 5, 2003 at 7:49 am: Thanks. I was going crazy with IE that came with my XP PRO.
W.Gale August 19, 2003 at 9:29 pm: I have the registry settings as described, but when I open a new window (IE window #2) the status bar is not present. Any suggestions?
W.G. August 19, 2003 at 9:29 pm: I have the registry settings as described, but when I open a new window (IE window #2) the status bar is not present. Any suggestions?
Joel August 28, 2003 at 2:24 am: Thanks for the status bar info. Google found you as my top search result. It's been bugging me for a few days now.

Awesome dude
ctdh August 29, 2003 at 2:58 pm: wow – have my babies!!!
Fdisk September 11, 2003 at 12:10 am: Kevin, you are fantastic guy.

Keep up the good work.

-FDISK
papa smurf September 14, 2003 at 11:15 pm: Fuckin' awesome.
papa smurf September 14, 2003 at 11:16 pm: Fuckin' awesome.
papa smurf September 14, 2003 at 11:16 pm: Fuckin' awesome.
KinetiK October 6, 2003 at 6:20 pm: excellent fix. the 'normal' way of fixing this problem by setting Status to on and closing the window wasn't working but so far so good with this fix! Thanks dude!
Craig October 14, 2003 at 10:18 am: Thank You Kevin -

I was able to follow your instructions while downloading netscape. Maybe it is time to give them another try?
susan October 14, 2003 at 11:47 am: THANK YOU!
bigjacko October 18, 2003 at 9:03 pm: Thanks man – you're a saviour.
Kit October 31, 2003 at 1:08 am: Many thanks. My status bar was fine until MS downloaded the latest patch to IE and it went away. It really was driving me mad.
foodi November 3, 2003 at 11:57 pm: wooooo!!!

you did it, man!!

youre the BEST!!!

woooOOOOoooOOO!
foodi November 4, 2003 at 12:01 am: woooooooOOOOOO!!!!

that shit has been driving me absolutely nuts for years!!

you did it!

youre the best, man! its true!
emily November 6, 2003 at 6:14 am: YAY!!! *song and dance" WOO-HOO

yes, it made me crazy
Jim Peel November 7, 2003 at 1:05 am: What is the CTRL-CLOSE for? What does the CTRL key do when closing a window?

I was having the same problem as everyone else; bar disappears on opening subsequent windows. This fixed that problem. Thanks, Kevin.
kendra November 7, 2003 at 8:14 am: I can't believe I let this annoying problem happen for so long when it was such an easy fix. THANKS!
franky November 7, 2003 at 10:26 am: P.S. i too would be curious to find out why the CTRL key needs to be held down when closing the windows…
AuctionHugh December 4, 2003 at 8:16 am: This will REALLY work to get your status bar locked in:

After following the other instructions….
start regedit (Start > Run > regedit )
go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
select "Show_StatusBar"
At the top menu choose "edit" then 'Permissions…'
click 'Advanced'
One at a time highlight each name in the list & click the 'edit' button
Check 'Deny' on the 'Set value' row. Click OK.
Do this for each name, including Administrators and System. Then ok out and exit the registry editor.
When you are done, nothing will ever get rid of your IE status bar.
damnthem December 22, 2003 at 8:59 pm: You are a God. Ive been cursing Bill for a month for that fscking annoyance. WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?? THEY ARE SO LAME.

BUT YOURE NOT.

You are a God.
Patrick December 28, 2003 at 9:11 pm: Thank You! This is one of the greatest tips I found that benefits me. Now every time I open a new IE, I don't have to restore my status bar by checking view > status bar. I can't believe I stand this for so long, in fact, this is really easy to fix!

Keep this good work