Internet Explorer 9 closes immediately on startup

Solution 1:

This not the first such question I am answering here. Internet Explorer 9 seems to be unable to install itself on some computers.

Seeing the number and variety of attempts that you have already done, there is not much left. "Use Software Rendering" is almost always cited as the reason for startup crashes, but you have tried it already, but better keep it checked for future tests, as well as using no add-ons.

EDIT: See this Microsoft article: How to solve Internet Explorer 9 installation problems.

Questions:

1. Did you look into the Windows 7 Event Viewer?
   An error entry there from when it crashed might point us in the right direction.
2. Did you specify any non-standard paths when installing Internet Explorer 9?

If a cause cannot be found, then the only solution would be to uninstall Internet Explorer 9 and wait for the service pack.

Solution 2:

I would try starting it under Procmon (it combines several utilities that were previously called FileMon, Regmon, now owned by Microsoft). It helped me in many cases figure out the real cause of the problem.

Solution 3:

I would also suggest doing a Windows Update, making sure that you have Service Pack 1, then seeing if Internet Explorer 9 will work following that.

Solution 4:

I just solved the same problem. It turned out that I had a copy of IE8 left in c:\program files, while IE9 was installed to d:\program files, where my default program files folder is.

Once I replaced c:\program files\internet explorer with d:\program files\internet explorer, it started working.