How to block the new Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 devices
Microsoft has started rolling out the new Microsoft Edge web browser based on Chromium via Windows Update this week. It will be pushed to Windows 10 devices with Windows Update, but only if the new Edge is not already installed on the device.
The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser is seen by many as a big improvement because it uses the same core as Google Chrome; that means better web compatibility, faster users can install Google Chrome extensions, and more.
The new browser, on the other hand, doesn’t replicate the full feature set of the classic Edge browser; some organizations want to continue using the classic version of Microsoft Edge for a while.
Microsoft continues to support the classic Edge with security updates, but does not add any new features. It is therefore no problem to keep the classic version of Microsoft Edge installed on a system for the time being.
Administrators can block the implementation of the Chromium-based Edge browser by adding a value to the registry.
Note: The value can only be set if the new Edge is not already installed on the device.
Here’s how that’s done:
- Tap the Start key, type regedit.exe and press the Enter key to launch the Registry Editor.
- Confirm the UAC prompt if it is displayed.
- Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft key.
- Locate the EdgeUpdate key.
- Right-click EdgeUpdate and select New> Dword Value (32-bit).
- Name the value DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium.
- Double click on the newly generated Dword and set the data value to 1.
- Restart the computer.
Please remember the meaning of value 1 is Chromium-based Edge browser is blocked. Delete the newly created Dword at a later time to allow the update.