These applications embedded in IE can make it difficult to attach to the correct process handle sometimes. When you say you tested with Java Monkey/Ferret - are you saying you tested that against the app running in IE (rather than just against the swingtest?) - as that will tell you if it is installed correctly for your app. My next recommendation is to experiment with attaching to different IE child index settings, different tabprocgrowth settings, and even experiment with attaching to your Java processes with a Java (rather than IE) object. Play around a bit attaching to different processes and hopefully eventually you'll find a combination that works.