Is it possible to enable HTTP basic authentication in Internet Explorer?

Question

A URL such as http://username:password@example.com/ does not work in Internet Explorer, as explained in the Microsoft Knowledgebase article “Internet Explorer d

Answer 1

Per the Knowledgebase article, this can be enabled by setting the DWORD for iexplore.exe to 0 in: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE].

Doing so will enable you to browse to URLs using the syntax [user]:[password]@[url].

Answer 2

The username:password@example.com construct was removed as a security feature. Storing passwords in plain text is a bad idea to start with, and this form of the url was a frequently used attack vector for phishing attacks. The article you link to lists some work-arounds... can you not just prompt the user to enter a password?

If you give a little more details about what you're doing, it's possible a better solution may be found.