At my company, we need the ability to alter "Protected Mode" settings for multiple reasons (specifically, for running Selenium tests and for development of a TaskPane app for Excel 2013). I am perplexed that we are not able to change the setting even though it is not locked/grayed out.
I can check the "Enable Protected Mode" box in any of the four zones (all four are unchecked by default) and hit Apply/OK, but when I reopen this settings window, the box is unchecked. I cannot get the setting to persist even though it appears I am allowed to change it. This is the case whether or not I have admin rights on my machine, whether or not Enhanced Protected Mode (on Advanced tab) is checked, and regardless of what User Account Control is set to (as noted here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/63141-internet-explorer-protected-mode-turn-off.html ). I am not aware of a group policy setting that is affecting this. According to the team that manages group policy, there is no policy rule preventing us from modifying this setting.
The only way I have found to successfully change the setting is to edit my Local Group Policy to force it to be enabled. Any idea what could be preventing this setting from persisting, or that could immediately change it back whenever it is altered? We need the ability to turn it on or off for different development scenarios, so requesting a group policy rule to force it to be enabled is not acceptable. It seems like the settings should persist, but I have no idea what to try next.
We are running Windows 7 64-bit with IE 11. I'll try to provide as much information about system configurations as I am allowed to share publicly. Any insights are much appreciated. Thanks.