SSRS Reports blank in Windows 8

Further to a previous post about reports being blank on Chrome (Report doesn't show on Chrome), I've recently come across a similar issue but on Internet Explorer.

The combination that causes the problem though is Windows 8 and IE 10 - you still get the parameter boxes, and navigation buttons, but the rest of the report is completely blank, and running or refreshing the report doesn't even give the spinning "Loading" window.

Turns out this is actually very easy to fix - you just need to view the reports in compatibility mode.

Two ways to do this - one to check if this does fix it, and one to set it permanently.

Check mode
Hit F12 - brings up a dev tools window in bottom of browser.
On the bar should be "Browser Mode: IE10"
Click on this and select "Internet Explorer 10 Compatibility Mode"
This should automatically refresh the report screen - and hopefully the report will now display.

Set permanently
Open IE and open one of the reports that doesn't display
To set the compatibility mode for the site, firstly ignore the Microsoft guff about seeing a little torn-page icon in the address bar - never seen it myself, although feel free to click that first if it's there for you
Hit ALT - this opens a hidden menu bar at the top of the browser window (with File / Edit / Tools / etc.)
Select "Tools", then select "Compatibility View Settings"
You site address should now be shown next to a "Add this website" comment - so hit "Add" and then "Close"
Refresh the page and you should see your report magically appear :)

Of course, if you are using Chrome, you are still in trouble!