How to uninstall Microsoft Edge

#Should you remove Edge?

For most people, no. Removing Edge saves little space and nothing runs faster. The risks are real:

• Other parts of Windows open Edge. Some help links and microsoft-edge: links expect it to be there.
• Windows Sandbox uses Edge as its only browser. The project mentions this in its own app description.
• Edge can come back with Windows updates.

If what bothers you is Edge's news feed, shopping prompts and Copilot, taming it is the better choice.

#How Win11Debloat removes Edge

1. It tries WinGet first

   Edge is in the app list as Microsoft.Edge, removed with WinGet. In the European Economic Area, where Microsoft allows Edge to be uninstalled, this usually just works.

2. If Edge is still there, it asks

   The wizard shows Force Uninstall Microsoft Edge? with the message Unable to uninstall Microsoft Edge via WinGet. Would you like to forcefully uninstall it? NOT RECOMMENDED! On the command line it asks the same as a y/n question.

3. The forced removal

   With Yes, or with -ForceRemoveEdge, it:

   1. sets AllowUninstall under HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\EdgeUpdateDev, which tells Edge's updater that uninstalling is allowed;
   2. creates an empty placeholder MicrosoftEdge.exe in C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe, which the uninstaller expects to find;
   3. runs Edge's own uninstaller with --force-uninstall;
   4. deletes the Edge shortcuts from Start, the taskbar and the desktop, and Edge's autostart entries;
   5. removes the placeholder again.

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/"))) -ForceRemoveEdge

If the uninstaller fails, Win11Debloat reports Microsoft Edge uninstaller failed with exit code … and leaves Edge alone.

#What is left afterwards

• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. Many apps use it to show web content: Widgets, Teams, the new Outlook and plenty of others. Do not remove it. One report of broken Windows search turned out to be a missing WebView2.
• Edge Update. Edge's updater stays, because WebView2 uses it.
• Your Edge profile. Win11Debloat does not delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge, where your bookmarks and history live.

We have not force-removed Edge in our own tests. This page describes the release's code, linked from the steps above.

#The alternative: keep Edge, lose the clutter

Two tweaks take away most of what people dislike, without touching Edge itself:

• -DisableEdgeAds, part of Default mode, sets 13 Edge policies: no MSN news feed or default site tiles on the new tab page, no shopping assistant, no recommendations, and less background data.
• -DisableEdgeAI turns off Copilot in Edge's sidebar, AI writing help and AI history search.

Then set another browser as default: Settings → Apps → Default apps, pick your browser, and click Set default. Edge says it is managed by your organization afterwards, because these are policies. edge://policy lists them.

#Getting Edge back

winget install --id Microsoft.Edge -e

Or download it from Microsoft's Edge website. Your old profile is picked up again.

#Questions

Something wrong or out of date? Email hello@win11debloat.dev and we will fix it.