Internet Explorer Extension to Open Current Page in Chrome, Firefox or Edge

I’d like to share the extensions I made for Internet Explorer, to open current web page in a different browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge (Windows 10). This extension works fine in all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.

After adding this extension, you’ll see the following options in the right-click menu, as well as in the Tools menu in Internet Explorer.

  • Open With Google Chrome
  • Open With Mozilla Firefox
  • Open With Microsoft Edge

Download Extensions

Download the required extensions below.

  1. Mozilla Firefox : firefox.zip
  2. Google Chrome: chrome.zip
  3. Microsoft Edge: edge.zip

Instructions

Download the appropriate Zip file above, unzip and extract the contents to following directory.

C:\Windows\Web

Then, open the above directory, and double-click the corresponding Registry File to apply the settings. For example, to add Firefox, double-click firefox.reg. This adds "Open With Firefox" option to the right-click menu, under the Tools menu as well and also a button to the Internet Explorer Command Bar.

Customize the Command Bar

Close all Internet Explorer windows and then re-open. If the button isn’t visible by default, you need to customize the Command Bar. To do so, right-click on the empty toolbar area in Internet Explorer, click Customize, and click Add or Remove Commands…

open with browser extension for IE

Add the required buttons and close the dialog.

open with browser extension for IE

You now have three buttons in the Command Bar that open current webpage using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

Also, the extensions show up when you click the Tools menu, and when you right-click on a webpage.

open with browser extension for IE



First time warning

Clicking one of the added icons in the Command Bar would display a Internet Explorer Security window indicating that the program (Edge / Firefox / Chrome) would open outside of Protected mode. You can enable "Do not show me the warning for this program again" (and click "Allow") if you don’t want to see the dialog box from the next time.

That’s it!

Similar Add-On for Mozilla Firefox

If you need a similar Add-On for Firefox, check out the Open With Add-on at mozilla.org, which adds additional menu options to open the current web page using another browser. This Add-On comes in handy if you need to test your web pages out in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, Opera or any other web browser.

See also
How to Open .URL Files (Internet Shortcuts) Using Different Browsers from the Right-Click Menu


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

11 thoughts on “Internet Explorer Extension to Open Current Page in Chrome, Firefox or Edge”

  1. This is exactly what I want to do, however neither the firefox nor the chrome extension works. the error I get is as follows: (same for the firefox one as well)
    An error has occurred in the script on this page:
    Line: 15
    Char: 2
    Error: Permission denied: ‘oParent.location.href’
    Code: 0
    URL: file:///C:WINDOWS/web/chrome.htm
    Do you want to continue running scripts on this page? YES / NO
    Selecting yes or no doesn’t seem to matter, neither opens the page in the other browser.

    Reply
  2. Hi, I tried with xp sp3 and ie8 but it doesn t work…

    it says script error, impossible to find the file

    file:///C:/WINDOWS/web/chrome.htm

    how can it be debuggged?

    tnx from Italy 😉

    filippo

    Reply
  3. ok found and debugged…
    in previous message I intended to refer the solely chrome extension because I was interessed only to that one…
    so I tried to install even the firefox extension… the ff works…
    I checked both the .htm in windows/web forlder, they are different so I tried to exclude all the code in chrome.htm… copy/paste the code for firefox and change firefox.exe in chrome.exe in the opening command line and… FINALLY WORKS 😀

    just a thing…

    how can I insert the command in the contextual menu for each page?
    I saw the command in tool button but it can be displayed even in the contextual menu??

    Is there anywhere an extension for chrome that saves links in favourites folders of ie (single links in the fav folder of my pc, as ie do)… there is a ff addon that do it but with chrome i didn t found anything!!

    tnx again
    Filippo

    Reply
  4. I am using IE 11 in Win 7 32-bit. Installed buttons/icons for Firefox and Chrome to the Command bar successfully. The buttons do not launch the respective browsers, though. What modifications need to be made?

    In IE’s Tools>Internet Options>Security>Scripting, I have enabled all options. What else can I do to make this work?

    Thanks.

    Reply
  5. I have downloaded both the extensions (Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox)
    After applying the registry settings Options are added in right-click menu to open with Google Chrome and Firefox but its not working when I click on that option.
    Can anyone help me understand what might be wrong here and help me resolve this?

    I have tried this on Windows 10, Internet Explorer 11

    Reply
  6. Thanks for your reply Ramesh.
    Actually earlier when I unzip the downloaded chrome.zip, the files were extracted under C:\Windows\Web\chrome

    So I have moved the required files under C:\Windows\Web and now its working fine.

    Reply

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