linear-gradient using CSS3 PIE in IE9 not working, IE8 does - css

Question

I've decided to completely drop support for IE6 and IE7 in my website, redirecting it's users to a text-only warning page. However I still support IE8 and IE9.
I am achieving this using CSS3 PIE, and border-radius works in both (IE8/9), box-shadow works in both, however I also rely on linear-gradient. I have heaps of tags in use to achieve this:
background: #E6E6E6; /* fallback */
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 0 bottom, from(#E6E6E6), to(#B3BCC7)); /* old webkit */
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* new webkit */
background: -moz-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* firefox */
background: -ms-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* meant to be IE... */
background: filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(GradientType=0,startColorstr='#E6E6E6', endColorstr='#B3BCC7'); /* also meant to be IE... */
background: -o-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* opera */
background: linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* W3C standard */
-pie-background: linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7); /* PIE */
behavior: url(/PIE.htc); /* load PIE.htc */
linear-gradient works in IE8, but not IE9, oddly. I've tried any solutions I've found, but they haven't worked. IE8 just shows the fallback: background: #E6E6E6; - not a gradient.
I don't think it's anything wrong with the server or anything like that, because the other properties - border-radius and box-shadow - work with PIE but not without.
I've got all the properties to work in all browsers I support - just not IE9 :(
Any ideas?
Thanks

Answer 1

OK, here's my fix. It certainly isn't pretty, but it works.
<style type="text/css">
body{
background: #E6E6E6;
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 0 bottom, from(#E6E6E6), to(#B3BCC7));
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
background: -moz-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
background: -ms-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
background: -o-linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
background: linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
-pie-background: linear-gradient(#E6E6E6, #B3BCC7);
behavior: url(/PIE.htc);
}
</style>
<!--[if IE 9]><style>body{ filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(GradientType=0,startColorstr='#E6E6E6', endColorstr='#B3BCC7'); behavior: url(/ie9-gradient-fix.htc); } </style><![endif]-->
EDIT: If anybody wants them, PIE.htc is found at http://www.css3pie.com and ie9-gradient-fix.htc is found at http://abouthalf.com/examples/ie9roundedbackgrounds/htc.zip. I couldn't get ie9-gradient-fix.htc to work unless it was in the root directory, PIE.htc worked in my /resources/ directory.

Answer 2

I don't think it's anything wrong with the server or anything like that, because the other properties - border-radius and box-shadow - work with PIE but not without.
PIE does not render border-radius and box-shadow in IE9 since IE9 supports both of those natively. So their presence is not an indication that PIE is working.
My guess is actually that your PIE.htc is being served with the incorrect content-type header -- IE9 is particularly strict about the content-type. See http://css3pie.com/documentation/known-issues/#content-type for details.

Answer 3

I was having a big headache because even with the correct content-type header (text/x-component), the linear-gradient wasn't working on IE9.
Upgrading to PIE 2.0 solved the issue.
http://css3pie.com/2013/01/28/pie-2-0-beta-1-released

Answer 4

Great!
i used PIE.php and fixed this bug (linear-gradient + border-radius) in IE8, IE9!
To use it, simply make sure both PIE.php and PIE.htc are in the same directory, and then in your CSS point the behavior to the PHP file instead:
behavior: url(PIE.php);

Answer 5

ie9-gradient-fix.htc worked for me in I.E. 9 but then again changing behavior from pie.htc to pie.php ALSO does the same thing.
The wheels turn oh so slowly at Microsoft but it appears they might also turn in opposite directions?

Answer 6

In my case i was using <!--[if lt IE 9]>, changing it to <!--[if lt IE 10]> fixed my problem (of not actualy including my IE css file).
I think** <!--[if lte IE 9]> would do the same logic.
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient(StartColorStr='#88222222', EndColorStr='#00222222', GradientType=0);
PS. I am not using css3pie whatsoever (I thought I was, derp)