One-word Intranet Sites take you to your default search engine with Internet Explorer 9

You are trying to access an intranet site and the name of the site comprises of just one word. When you attempt to browse to this site using Internet Explorer 9, it responds by taking you to your default search engine to look for that word.

Internet Explorer 9 introduces the OneBox feature which combines the address bar and the search box. In order to achieve a great search experience for all users, the default behavior is for OneBox to use a single word entry as search criteria. This can be changed by users or controlled by Group Policy as described in the resolution.

If users want to go directly to the intranet site, then they can either type http:// before the intranet site name or append / to the site name. 

Alternatively, you can configure Internet Explorer to go to the intranet site directly by using one of the following methods. 

Method 1: Using Tools menu in Internet Explorer:

Click Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, check the option Go to an intranet site for a single word entry in the Address bar.

Method 2: Using Group Policy:

Local or Domain Administrators can configure this setting by using Group Policy. 

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK.
2. Expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, expand Internet Explorer.
3. Then expand Internet Settings, expand Advanced Settings, expand Browsing, Set Go to an intranet site for a single word entry in the Address bar according to your desired settings. You have to update policies or restart the computer to apply changes. 

Method 3: Using registry key:

Important :This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756)   How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
   
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then add the following registry value:
   Value Name:  GotoIntranetSiteForSingleWordEntry
   Value Type:  REG_DWORD
   Value Data:  1
   

Here is how the default behavior works. When a user types in just one word into the address bar, Internet Explorer 9 responds by taking the user to their default search engine to look for that word. 

If Internet Explorer detects that it is also an intranet site, then it will suggest the intranet site through the notification bar, situated at the bottom of the Internet Explorer window. The notification bar would say "Do you want to go to http://<sitename>?". When you click yes, Internet Explorer 9 automatically adds the site to the inline auto-complete list. 

The next time the intranet site name is typed in, Internet Explorer 9 will offer it with a / at the end of the word automatically and pressing enter will take you to the intranet site.

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