Central Admin Browser Behaviour

In this article, we are going to see 2 behaviors to be noted while using SharePoint Central Administration in the Browsers.

1. Launches with that Browser on update and not able to set it back to IE.
2. Sometimes, Create Web Application and other Admin settings links are missing.

1. Browser Launch:

When we install some updates for browsers, the SharePoint Central Administration started to launch with that browser instead of IE. We all have seen similar behavior in other places where the browsers compete to be the default browser, so I checked the default browser setting for IE.

It appears that IE is the default browser. I even tried to set other browsers as default browser and then reset IE as default, but that didn’t help either.

Later on going thru the Registry entry, It appears the set as default browser action doesn’t reset the shell class in registry location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command

After set it to use IE, SharePoint Central Administration launches in IE properly.

2. Missing Admin Links:

For the machine logged in with user account other than Admin, and if you happen to open Central Admin – you realize that ‘Create Web Application’ link and Other Admin links (also JavaScript) to modify settings are missing. To get rid of this, Open IE with ‘Run as Administrator’ and then Open Central Admin page.

Browser need Admin privileges to perform some actions.

Hope the tips help!