Protractor with IE on Windows 10 fails - error cod

I can't get protractor to work with IE 11 on Windows 10. It says Unable to create new service: InternetExplorerDriverService and exists with code 199

I have tried the age old reinstalled/upgraded node, npm, protractor, webdriver-manager & java; and it didn't seem to make any difference.

Protractor works fine with Chrome; and having Chrome in the config does not affect IE.

My config file :

// protractor.conf.js
exports.config = {
    framework: 'jasmine',
    specs: [
        'protractor/specs/**/*.js'
    ],
    multiCapabilities: [
        {
            browserName: 'internet explorer',
            version: 11,
            'ignoreProtectedModeSettings': true
        }
    ]
};

software versions :

node --version
v8.9.4

npm --version
5.7.1

protractor --version
Version 5.3.0

java -version
java version "1.8.0_161"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_161-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.161-b12, mixed mode)

webdriver-manager status
[15:36:53] I/status - selenium standalone version available: 3.9.1 [last]
[15:36:53] I/status - chromedriver version available: 2.35 [last]
[15:36:53] I/status - geckodriver version available: v0.19.1 [last]
[15:36:53] I/status - IEDriverServer version available: 3.9.0 [last]
[15:36:53] I/status - android-sdk is not present
[15:36:53] I/status - appium is not present

Full Error

protractor ./tests/protractor.conf.js

(node:13724) [DEP0022] DeprecationWarning: os.tmpDir() is deprecated. Use os.tmpdir() instead.
[15:37:44] I/launcher - Running 1 instances of WebDriver
[15:37:44] I/local - Starting selenium standalone server...
[15:37:53] I/local - Selenium standalone server started at http://10.1.0.213:52331/wd/hub
[15:37:53] E/launcher - Unable to create new service: InternetExplorerDriverService
Build info: version: '3.9.1', revision: '63f7b50', time: '2018-02-07T22:42:28.403Z'
System info: host: 'my.hostname', ip: '10.1.0.213', os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '1.8.0_161'
Driver info: driver.version: unknown
[15:37:53] E/launcher - SessionNotCreatedError: Unable to create new service: InternetExplorerDriverService
Build info: version: '3.9.1', revision: '63f7b50', time: '2018-02-07T22:42:28.403Z'
System info: host: 'my.hostname', ip: '10.1.0.213', os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '1.8.0_161'
Driver info: driver.version: unknown
    at Object.checkLegacyResponse (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\lib\error.js:546:15)
    at parseHttpResponse (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\lib\http.js:509:13)
    at doSend.then.response (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\lib\http.js:441:30)
    at <anonymous>
    at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:188:7)
From: Task: WebDriver.createSession()
    at Function.createSession (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\lib\webdriver.js:769:24)
    at createDriver (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\index.js:170:33)
    at Builder.build (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\selenium-webdriver\index.js:635:14)
    at Local.getNewDriver (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\built\driverProviders\driverProvider.js:53:33)
    at Runner.createBrowser (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\built\runner.js:195:43)
    at q.then.then (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\built\runner.js:339:29)
    at _fulfilled (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\q\q.js:834:54)
    at self.promiseDispatch.done (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\q\q.js:863:30)
    at Promise.promise.promiseDispatch (C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\q\q.js:796:13)
    at C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\q\q.js:604:44
[15:37:53] E/launcher - Process exited with error code 199

Running InternetExplorerDriverService manually opens a window which says

Started InternetExplorerDriver server (32-bit)
3.9.0.0
Listening on port 5555
Only local connections are allowed

But that doesn't change the outcome.

The main thing that did it for me was renaming the downloaded file! npm/selenium downloaded C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\webdriver-manager\selenium\IEDriverServer3.9.0.exe out of desperation I removed the version, renaming it to IEDriverServer.exe in the same folder; and that did the trick.

I also needed to get the security team to allow it to run, because of the nature of the environment for this project; this might not apply to everyone.

There are also a list of gotchas I found on the wiki; I didn't need to edit my registry (I don't have access to it anyway), so maybe leave that as a last resort.

Also from the Wiki https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/wiki/InternetExplorerDriver

Required Configuration

The IEDriverServer exectuable must be downloaded and placed in your PATH.
On IE 7 or higher on Windows Vista or Windows 7, you must set the Protected Mode settings for each zone to be the same value. The value can be on or off, as long as it is the same for every zone. To set the Protected Mode settings, choose "Internet Options..." from the Tools menu, and click on the Security tab. For each zone, there will be a check box at the bottom of the tab labeled "Enable Protected Mode".
Additionally, "Enhanced Protected Mode" must be disabled for IE 10 and higher. This option is found in the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog.
The browser zoom level must be set to 100% so that the native mouse events can be set to the correct coordinates.
For Windows 10, you also need to set "Change the size of text, apps, and other items" to 100% in display settings.
For IE 11 only, you will need to set a registry entry on the target computer so that the driver can maintain a connection to the instance of Internet Explorer it creates. For 32-bit Windows installations, the key you must examine in the registry editor is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE. For 64-bit Windows installations, the key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE. Please note that the FEATURE_BFCACHE subkey may or may not be present, and should be created if it is not present. Important: Inside this key, create a DWORD value named iexplore.exe with the value of 0.

If you get an error saying

SessionNotCreatedError: Unexpected error launching Internet Explorer. Protected Mode settings are not the same for all zones. Enable Protected Mode must be set to the same value (enabled or disabled) for all zones.

Then you will need to open IE and make sure the the setting is the same for all zones, that is it can be on for all or off for all, but must be the same. Probably best to try it with it on for all to begin with to reduce the risk from bad actors unrelated to the original issues.

In an enterprise environment this might need admin access, and/or it might need doing after every sign in/reboot as it seems it can be set by policy (But that is out of scope of my knowledge).