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-->Use the following information to configure Microsoft Edge policy settings on your Windows devices.
Note
This article applies to Microsoft Edge version 77 or later.
Configure policy settings on Windows
You can use group policy objects (GPO) to configure policy settings for Microsoft Edge and managed Microsoft Edge updates on all versions of Windows. You can also provision policy through the registry for Windows devices that are joined to a Microsoft Active Directory domain, or Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise instances enrolled for device management in Microsoft Intune. To configure Microsoft Edge with group policy objects, you install administrative templates that add rules and settings for Microsoft Edge to the group policy Central Store in your Active Directory domain or to the Policy Definition template folder on individual computers and then configure the specific policies you want to set.
You can use Active Directory group policy to configure Microsoft Edge policy settings if you prefer to manage policy at the domain level. This enables you to manage policy settings globally, targeting different policy settings to specific OUs, or using WMI filters to apply settings only to users or computers returned by a particular query. If you want to configure policy on individual computers, you can apply policy settings that only affect the local device using the Local Group Policy Editor on the target computer.
Microsoft Edge supports both mandatory and recommended policies. Mandatory policies override user preferences and prevents the user from changing it, while recommended policy provide a default setting that may be overridden by the user. Most policies are mandatory only; a subset are mandatory and recommended. If both versions of a policy are set, the mandatory setting takes precedence. A recommended policy only takes effect when the user has not modified the setting.
Tip
You can use Microsoft Intune to configure Microsoft Edge policy settings. For more information, see Configure Microsoft Edge using Microsoft Intune.
There are two administrative templates for Microsoft Edge, both of which can be applied either at the computer or Active Directory domain level:
- msedge.admx to configure Microsoft Edge settings
- msedgeupdate.admx to manage Microsoft Edge updates.
To get started, download and install the Microsoft Edge administrative template.
1. Download and install the Microsoft Edge administrative template
If you want to configure Microsoft Edge policy settings in Active Directory, download the files to a network location you can access from a domain controller or a workstation with the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) installed. To configure on an individual computer, simply download the files to that computer.
When you add the administrative template files to the appropriate location, Microsoft Edge policy settings are immediately available in the Group Policy Editor.
Go to the Microsoft Edge Enterprise landing page to download the Microsoft Edge policy templates file (MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates.cab) and extract the contents.
Add the administrative template to Active Directory
On a domain controller or workstation with RSAT, browse to the PolicyDefinition folder (also known as the Central Store) on any domain controller for your domain. For older versions of Windows Server, you may need to create the PolicyDefinition folder. For more information, see How to create and manage the Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Templates in Windows.
Open MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates and go to windows > admx.
Copy the msedge.admx file to the PolicyDefinition folder. (Example: %systemroot%sysvoldomainpoliciesPolicyDefinitions)
In the admx folder, open the appropriate language folder. For example, if you’re in the U.S., open the en-US folder.
Copy the msedge.adml file to the matching language folder in the PolicyDefinition folder. Create the folder if it does not already exist. (Example: %systemroot%sysvoldomainpoliciesPolicyDefinitionsEN-US)
If your domain has more than one domain controller, the new ADMX files will be replicated to them at the next domain replication interval.
To confirm the files loaded correctly, open the Group Policy Management Editor from Windows Administrative Tools and expand Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge. You should see one or more Microsoft Edge nodes as shown below.
Add the administrative template to an individual computer
- On the target computer, open MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates and go to windows > admx.
- Copy the msedge.admx file to your Policy Definition template folder. (Example: C:WindowsPolicyDefinitions)
- In the admx folder, open the appropriate language folder. For example, if you’re in the U.S., open the en-US folder.
- Copy the msedge.adml file to the matching language folder in your Policy Definition folder. (Example: C:WindowsPolicyDefinitionsen-US)
- To confirm the files loaded correctly either open Local Group Policy Editor directly (Windows key + R and enter gpedit.msc) or open MMC and load the Local Group Policy Editor snap-in. If an error occurs, it’s usually because the files are in an incorrect location.
2. Set mandatory or recommended policies
You can set mandatory or recommended policies to configure Microsoft Edge with the Group Policy Editor for both Active Directory and individual computers. You can scope policy settings to either the Computer Configuration or User Configuration by selecting the appropriate node as described below.
To configure a mandatory policy, open the Group Policy Editor and go to (Computer Configuration or User Configuration) > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge.
To configure a recommended policy, open the Group Policy Editor and go to (Computer Configuration or User Configuration) > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge – Default Settings (users can override).
3. Test your policies
On a target client device, open Microsoft Edge and navigate to edge://policy to see all policies that are applied. If you applied policy settings on the local computer, policies should appear immediately. You may need to close and reopen Microsoft Edge if it was open while you were configuring policy settings.
For Active Directory group policy settings, policy settings are propagated to domain computers at a regular interval defined by your domain administrator, and target computers may not receive policy updates right away. To manually refresh Active Directory group policy settings on a target computer, execute the following command from a command prompt or PowerShell session on the target computer:
You may need to close and reopen Microsoft Edge before the new policies appear.
You can also use REGEDIT.exe on a target computer to view the registry settings that store group policy settings. These settings are located at the registry path HKLMSOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftEdge.
See also
Alongside all the features and improvements in the roadmap for the new version of Microsoft Edge based on the Chromium engine, Microsoft includes a compatibility mode using the Internet Explorer rendering engine to load old websites.
The feature is known as “IE Mode,” and it has been designed for organizations to load internal sites without using a separate browser or having to redesign the site. The new approach loads the pages within Microsoft Edge like a regular website without using and managing multiple browsers.
If you want to start using it, the version of Microsoft Edge available through the stable channel now includes the “Internet Explorer compatibilities” settings to quickly enable IE Mode and a separate option to open Edge when browsing an incomparable website with Internet Explorer. Alongside the settings, it also possible to use the Group Policy Editor to configure the compatibility mode.
In this guide, you will learn the steps to enable IE Mode to load legacy websites using the Internet Explorer rendering engine on Chromium Edge for Windows 10. (You can also watch this video tutorial to configure the feature.)
How to enable IE mode on Microsoft Edge
To enable IE mode on Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.
Select the Settings option.
Click on Default browser.
Under the “Internet Explorer compatibility” section, turn on the “Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode” toggle switch.
Click the Restart button.
Microsoft Edge Chromium Windows 7 Download
Once you complete the steps, when sites require Internet Explorer, you can use Microsoft Edge to reload the page using IE mode.
Open site with IE Mode on Edge
After the IE Mode is enabled, you need to reload a page with the compatibility mode manually.
To open an incompatible website with IE Mode on Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.
Select the More tools submenu and choose the “Reload in Internet Explorer mode” option.
After you complete the steps, the website should reload in compatibility mode. If the feature is not enabled, then the option won’t be available in the menu.
If you want to exit IE Mode, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 3, select the Exit Internet Explorer mode option.
Open Internet Explorer sites on Microsoft Edge
On Windows 10, Microsoft Edge also lets you configure the browser so that when someone is using Internet Explorer incompatible or all sites will load within Edge.
Microsoft Edge Chromium Windows 7 64-bit
To let IE open websites with Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.
Select the Settings option.
Click on Default browser.
Under the “Internet Explorer compatibility” section, use the “Let Internet Explorer open sites in Microsoft Edge” drop-down menu and select the option to handle browsing when using Internet Explorer, including:
- Never – IE will never switch to Edge to load the site.
- Incompatible sites only – IE will still load sites, but websites designed for a modern browser will load in Edge.
- Always – IE will always switch to Edge to load websites.
Once you complete the steps, when surfing the web in Internet Explorer, websites will open on Microsoft Edge, according to your configuration.
How to enable IE mode with Group Policy on Microsoft Edge
Alternatively, you can also enable IE Mode on Chromium Edge with Group Policy. However, you will need to download and install the policy template before you can configure the Group Policy settings.
Install Microsoft Edge policy template
To install the policy template to enable IE Mode on Edge, use these steps:
Open Microsoft Edge for business website.
Under the “Policy File” section, click the Download button.
Select the version of Microsoft Edge. (Usually, you want to use the latest stable version available.)
Select the build (latest version available).
Select the platform — for example, Windows 64-bit.
Click the Get policy files option.
Click the Accept & download button.
Double-click to open the MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates.zip file.
Click the Extract all button from the “Compressed Folder Tools” tab.
(Optional) Select the location to extract the files.
Check the Show extracted files when complete option.
Click the Extract button.
Browse the following path inside the (extracted) “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates” folder:
Select the msedge.admx and msedgeupdate.admx files and click the Copy option from the “Home” tab.
Quick tip: You only need to copy the “msedgeupdate.admx” file if you want to control the update settings of Microsoft Edge.Browse to the following path:
Click the Paste button from the “Home” tab.
In the “admx” folder, inside the “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates” folder, open the language folder that represents your language — for example, en-US.
Select the msedge.adml and msedgeupdate.adml files and click the Copy option from the “Home” tab.
Quick tip: You only need to copy the “msedgeupdate.adml” file if you also copy the file on step No.12.Browse to the following path that matches your language:
In the above command, make sure to change en-US for the folder that matches your language.
Click the Paste button from the “Home” tab.
Once you complete the steps, the new policies to enable or disable IE Mode on Edge Chromium will install in the Group Policy Editor.
Enable IE Mode on Microsoft Edge
To enable IE Mode on Chromium Edge with Group Policy, use these steps:
Open Start.
Search for gpedit and click the top result to open the Group Policy Editor.
Browse the following path:
Double-click the Configure Internet Explorer integration policy.
Select the Enabled option to enable IE Mode for Microsoft Edge.
Under the “Options” section, select the Internet Explorer mode from the dropdown menu.
Click the Apply button.
Click the OK button.
After you complete the steps, websites will render in compatibility mode, and you’ll notice a familiar IE icon on the left side of the address bar letting you know the website is using Internet Explorer.
These steps enable IE Mode for intranet websites. If you want to load external websites using Chromium Edge, you need to enable and set up the “Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List” policy, which includes the creation of an XML file with the list of domains that you want to load automatically with the Internet Explorer mode.
Update February 11, 2021: This guide has been revised with the steps to configure IE Mode on the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge using the new compatibility settings and updated the process to install the Group Policy templates.