To streamline and simplify the user interface of Internet Explorer 9, the menu bar which allowing access to pull down menu of File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help has been made hidden and not shown by default. IE9 user who needs to access the menu bar can press the Alt key as a shortcut to reveal and display the menu temporarily.

To show and display the menu bar on IE9 permanently, follow step-by-step guide:

  1. In IE9, press Alt key to reveal the menu bar.
  2. Go to View -> Toolbars, and click on Menu bar.

    IE Menu Bar

The menu bar will feature prominently on top of IE9, but below the address (URL and search) bar and Tabs bar. Here’s the guide on how to move the menu bar to the top of IE window.

Note: If you can’t make the menu bar to be revealed and shown permanently via steps above, run Registry Editor (RegEdit), and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer registry key, then create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named AlwaysShowMenus with value data as 1.