Receiving "MSIE 7.0" in user agent string from IE8 browser NOT in compatibility mode?

1
votes

We have users accessing our web application using Internet Explorer 8 that insist they do not have compatibility mode engaged, yet we are receiving the following user agent string:

"Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/4.0;..."

They have provided screenshots to confirm both that they are on IE8, and that compatibility mode is not 'checked' in the menu.

Why are we getting the MSIE 7.0 reference from an IE8 browser that is not in compatibility mode?

1
phpinternet-explorer-8ie8-compatibility-mode
Have you sent them to a site that shows them their browser string? IE8 is not intuitive as to how it shows it is or isn't in compatibility mode – Machavity
Thanks @Machavity - Yes we created a test page to output the value of $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] in php which confirmed they were sending the user agent string above - including the MSIE 7.0 reference. – dan3069822
Their screenshots show 'compatibility view' greyed out in both versions of the Tools menu, rather than a checkmark - Indicating it is not running in compatibility view. – dan3069822
Just a general note, testing user strings to do browser specific things is rapidly becoming deprecated (MS has dropped MSIE in its user agent as of IE11). – Machavity

1 Answers

1
votes

There are a number of reasons why a page may be displayed in Compatibility view (or a similar mode). Here are a few off the top of my head:

  • The page may contain (or be served with) an x-ua-compatible element containing "content=ie7" or a similar value.

  • The page may be displayed using a zone where compatibility view is the default, such as the Intranet zone.

  • The page URL may be listed in Microsoft's compatibility view list.

  • The user may have a group policy set to display the page in compatibility view.

  • The page may contain a malformed HEAD Section that prevents an in-page x-ua-compatible header from being applied.

  • The page may contain a mark of the web (MOTW) that places it in a security zone that enables compatibility view by default.

Without more information about the application or the environment, it's hard to say which of these might apply at the moment.

Hope this helps...

-- Lance