diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
index bbe1de2ddf..b375fad3f3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@ public class Functions {
     }
     
     public static void initPageVariables(JellyContext context) {
-        String rootURL = Stapler.getCurrentRequest().getContextPath();
+        StaplerRequest currentRequest = Stapler.getCurrentRequest();
+        String rootURL = currentRequest.getContextPath();
 
         Functions h = new Functions();
         context.setVariable("h", h);
@@ -222,6 +223,8 @@ public class Functions {
          */
         context.setVariable("resURL",rootURL+getResourcePath());
         context.setVariable("imagesURL",rootURL+getResourcePath()+"/images");
+
+        context.setVariable("userAgent", currentRequest.getHeader("User-Agent"));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/lib/layout/layout.jelly b/core/src/main/resources/lib/layout/layout.jelly
index 9e5ff26340..423f4f736d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/lib/layout/layout.jelly
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/lib/layout/layout.jelly
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ ${h.initPageVariables(context)}
   this also allows us to configure HttpSessionContextIntegrationFilter not to create sessions,
   which I suspect can end up creating sessions for wrong resource types (such as static resources.)
 -->
+<j:set var="isMSIE" value="${userAgent.contains('MSIE')}"/>
 <j:set var="_" value="${request.getSession()}"/>
 <j:set var="_" value="${h.configureAutoRefresh(request, response, attrs.norefresh!=null and !attrs.norefresh.equals(false))}"/>
   <j:if test="${request.servletPath=='/' || request.servletPath==''}">
@@ -80,6 +81,10 @@ ${h.initPageVariables(context)}
   <head>
     ${h.checkPermission(it,permission)}
 
+    <j:if test="${isMSIE}">
+      <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge"/>
+    </j:if>
+
     <title>${h.appendIfNotNull(title, ' [Jenkins]', 'Jenkins')}</title>
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="${resURL}/css/style.css" type="text/css" />
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="${resURL}/css/color.css" type="text/css" />
@@ -122,6 +127,10 @@ ${h.initPageVariables(context)}
     <script src="${resURL}/scripts/hudson-behavior.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
     <script src="${resURL}/scripts/sortable.js" type="text/javascript"/>
 
+    <j:if test="${isMSIE}">
+      <script src="${resURL}/scripts/msie.js" type="text/javascript"/>
+    </j:if>
+
     <script>
         crumb.init("${h.getCrumbRequestField()}", "${h.getCrumb(request)}");
     </script>
diff --git a/war/src/main/webapp/scripts/msie.js b/war/src/main/webapp/scripts/msie.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4ed28719df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/war/src/main/webapp/scripts/msie.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * The MIT License
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2004-2010, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Kohsuke Kawaguchi,
+ * Daniel Dyer, Yahoo! Inc., Alan Harder, InfraDNA, Inc.
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+ * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+ * THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+function assertDocumentModeOK() {
+    if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie) {
+        setTimeout(function() {
+            if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie !== document.documentMode) {
+                alert("WARNING: Your Internet Explorer appears to be set to a non-default 'Document Mode' (see Developer Tools - press F12).\n" +
+                      "\n" +
+                      "Jenkins may not display properly in this browser.");
+            }
+        }, 1500);
+    }
+}
+
+assertDocumentModeOK();
+