How to Uninstall or Disable Microsoft Edge on Windows 10/11? , Ranjan.info

The Microsoft Edge browser is installed by default on Windows 11 and all new Windows 10 builds (and Windows Server 2022/2019). If you have another browser installed on your organization’s computers, you can uninstall or disable the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows.

The main problem is that you cannot remove MS Edge browser from your computer using normal Windows removal tools. It is also deeply integrated into the operating system, just like Internet Explorer, which it replaces (see How to set up Internet Explorer on Windows). if you open Apps and Features in parts Adjustment panel (use the ms-settings URI command ms-settings:appsfeatures ), you will see that uninstall The button is inactive (grayed out) for the Microsoft Edge browser.

Note that you can only uninstall Edge through the Control Panel if you installed it manually (not through Windows Update).

Also, you cannot use the Uninstall-Package PowerShell cmdlet to remove MS Edge on Windows.

Get-Package -name "*Microsoft Edge*" | Uninstall-Package

You run the command, but nothing seems to happen.

Uninstalling Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 and 11

The only way to uninstall MS Edge on Windows is from the command line. First, you need to find out the build number of the latest version of MS Edge browser installed on your computer. Open elevated PowerShell console and run the command below:

$EdgeVersion = (Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable" -AllUsers).Version

There may be different versions of Edge installed on the computer. The latest we’re looking for is:

$EdgeLstVersion=$EdgeVersion[-1]

Now get the path to the Edge installation directory:

$EdgeSetupPath = ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)} + '\Microsoft\Edge\Application\' + $EdgeLstVersion

In our case, it is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\103.0.1264.37

Next, go to the directory:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\103.0.1264.37"

And run command to remove Microsoft Edge:

.\Installer\setup.exe --uninstall --system-level --verbose-logging --force-uninstall

A window should appear asking you to confirm the removal of Edge (in my case, it appeared in Windows Server 2022 and Windows 10, but not Windows 11). just click uninstall,

you can also remove Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime feature, which is used to embed web content in desktop applications using the Chromium engine in Microsoft Edge. Change directory:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\Application\103.0.1204.37\Installer\

Run the removal command:

setup.exe --uninstall --msedgewebview --system-level --verbose-logging

Check that the Microsoft Edge shortcut has disappeared from the taskbar and Start menu.

To disable the automatic installation and updating of Microsoft Edge via Windows Update, you must make Don’t update Edge with Chromium Registry parameter. You can create this registry key and parameter using PowerShell:

Set-item -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate" -Name DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium -Type "DWORD" -Value 1 –Force

I’ve also tried uninstalling the built-in MS Edge as a regular Microsoft Store app (UWP/APPX):

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers "*edge*"|select Name,PackageFullName
Get-AppxPackage -allusers –Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge.Stable_103.0.1264.37_neutral__8wekyb3d8bbwe | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

But I ran into the error HRESULT: 0x80073CFA while trying to uninstall the built-in app. And while you can fix this error by following the instructions in the link, I still recommend using the first method because it’s much simpler.

How to disable Microsoft Edge in Windows?

If you do not want to completely uninstall MS Edge from your Windows device, but want to prevent users from using it, you can disable it. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a simple GPO or registry setting that would disable Edge browser launch.

Therefore, you can simply block the msedge.exe executable from running on Windows by using Applocker, Software Restriction Policy, or Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). But it can be done more easily:

1. First, disable autostart of MS Edge on Windows sign-in;
2. Then open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc,
3. go for User Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> System;
4. enable parameter Do not run specified Windows applicationsand click Show,
5. name the msedge.exe the executable file you want to prevent from running;
6. Save changes and update Group Policy settings with gpupdate /force Permission;
7. Users will no longer be able to run Microsoft Edge on this computer. If you try to open Edge, an error will appear:

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.