(Note: As of June 15, 2022, the Internet Explorer (IE) 11 desktop application is no longer supported on certain versions of Windows 10, any version of Windows 11, or on later versions, as explained by this article. That article also describes ways to enable Internet Explorer mode in any version of Edge.)
To be certain that the IPv6 protocol will be used to access the website, substitute an IPv6 literal address surrounded by square brackets in the uniform resource identifier (URI) in place of a domain name.
For example,
http://ipv6.test-ipv6.com
becomes
http://[2001:470:1:18::115].
For additional information, refer to Request For Comments (RFC) 3986 "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax".
(Caution: This substitution can sometimes fail. Explanation of possible reasons for this are available. If you encounter problems, review the Broken User FAQ article found on that website for several possible explanations. For even more possible explanations, review this article on the ARIN IPv6 wiki.)
If it is necessary to specify a port number as part of the URL, it would follow the IPv6 literal address (as is the case with IPv4 addresses).
For example, http://ipv6.test-ipv6.com:443 becomes http://[2001:470:1:18::115]:443.
Extensions: IPvFoo is one of several extensions that are now available for Edge and Explorer on the Chrome Web Store. After you install (and then enable) the iPvFoo extension, some combination of 4, 6, and/or "?" will appear near the three dots (...) in the upper-right corner of your browser window. Clicking on it will cause the IP address(es) of the web page you are viewing to appear. Adding an extension to Microsoft Edge or Explorer from the Chrome Web Store is described in this article.
Note 1: Neither Edge nor IE can browse IPv6 websites if configured to use a proxy server that does not support IPv6. When Edge or IE is configured to use a proxy server, name resolution requests for websites are forwarded to the proxy server. Unless the proxy server is IPv6-enabled, proxy-based requests for local or remote IPv6 web pages will not work.
To disable use of a proxy server:
1a. Windows 11: Tap or click the Start icon at the bottom of the screen. Enter Internet Options in the Search Bar window at the top of the screen. Tap or click on the Internet Options icon that appears.
1b. Windows 10 and earlier versions: Enter Internet Options in the Search Bar window in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Tap or click on the Internet Options icon that appears.
2. An Internet Properties dialog box will appear. Tap or click the Connections tab, then tap or click LAN Settings.
3. In the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, clear the Use a proxy server for your LAN checkbox and tap or click OK.
4. Tap or click OK to save changes to Internet Properties dialog box and exit.
Note 2: If for some reason you need to use a Universal Naming Convention [UNC] path name that must include an IPv6 literal address to test access to a web page on a shared folder, be forewarned that the colon is an illegal character in a UNC path name. For just this reason, Microsoft has implemented a transcription algorithm that uses a second-level Internet domain, ipv6-literal.net. (The ipv6-literal.net domain is registered to Perfect Privacy, LLC, but don't let that hinder you.) IPv6 addresses may be transcribed by substituting a dash for each colon, substituting the letter “s” for each percent sign, appending a period and the ipv6-literal.net domain, as follows:
2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7348
would be written as
2001-db8-85a3-8d3-1319-8a2e-370-7348.ipv6-literal.net
and the resulting URI will then be directly resolved by Microsoft software without DNS queries to any nameservers. When a zone index is part of a link local IPv6 address, transcribe the address in a similar fashion as follows:
fe80::3%1
would be written as
fe80--3s1.ipv6-literal.net.
Note 3: Access to web pages on UNC path name-specified shared folders with an included IPv6 or IPv4 literal address is typically prohibited by Edge and most versions of IE unless the shared folder is explicitly added to the Trusted sites zone under the Security tab in the Internet Properties dialog box. (The Trusted sites zone will only be shown if you have administrator privileges.)