1. Open the "Edit group policy" menu item from the Start menu.
2. Then, the "Local Group Policy Editor" window will be opened.
3. Expand the left tree from the root node "Local Computer Policy" to "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "Windows Components" > "Internet Explorer" > "Internet Control Panel" > "Security Page".
4. You will see some sub-nodes that node name ends with "...Zone", and you should be able to see the "Turn on Protected Mode" setting item In each sub-node.
5. Double click the "Turn on Protected Mode" setting item and select "Enable" or "Disable," which you want, and click the "OK" button to apply and close it.
6. Do that for all of the "...Zone" sub-nodes.

How to automate IE mode in Microsoft Edge?

To automate IE mode in Microsoft Edge (not Internet Explorer as a standalone application), you should have to configure the options for IE Driver like below:

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;

var ieOptions = new InternetExplorerOptions
{
    // These 3 lines are needed to use Microsoft Edge IE mode.
    AttachToEdgeChrome = true,
    EdgeExecutablePath = "C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft/Edge/Application/msedge.exe",
    IgnoreZoomLevel = true,
};

using var driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(ieOptions);
...

Please see also: 🌎"Use Internet Explorer Driver to automate IE mode in Microsoft Edge | Microsoft Docs"

How to include the driver file into published files?

"IEDriverServer.exe" isn't included in published files on the default configuration. This behavior is by design.

If you want to include "IEDriverServer.exe" into published files, please define the _PUBLISH_IEDRIVER compilation symbol.

Another way, you can define PublishIEDriver property with value is "true" in the MSBuild file (.csproj, .vbproj, etc...) to publish the driver file instead of defining compilation symbol.

  <Project ...>
    ...
    <PropertyGroup>
      ...
      <PublishIEDriver>true</PublishIEDriver>
      ...
    </PropertyGroup>
...
</Project>

You can also define the PublishIEDriver property from the command line -p option for the dotnet publish command.

> dotnet publish -p:PublishChromeDriver=true

Note

PublishIEDriver MSBuild property always overrides the condition of defining the_PUBLISH_IEDRIVER compilation symbol or not. If you define PublishIEDriver MSBuild property with false, then the driver file isn't included in publish files whenever define _PUBLISH_IEDRIVER compilation symbol or not.

Appendix

Where is IEDriverServer.exe saved to?

IEDriverServer.exe exists at
" {solution folder} /packages/Selenium.WebDriver.IEDriver. {ver} /driver"
folder.

 {Solution folder}/
  +-- packages/
  |   +-- Selenium.WebDriver.IEDriver.{version}/
  |       +-- driver/
  |       |   +-- IEDriverServer.exe
  |       +-- build/
  +-- {project folder}/
      +-- bin/
          +-- Debug/
          |   +-- IEDriverServer.exe (copy from above by build process)
          +-- Release/
              +-- IEDriverServer.exe (copy from above by build process)

And package installer configures msbuild tasks such as .csproj to copy IEDriverServer.exe into the output folder during the build process.

License

The build script (.targets file) in this NuGet package is licensed under The Unlicense.

The binary file of the IE Driver is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.