Completely Reset Microsoft Edge Chromium to Defaults

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How to Completely Reset Microsoft Edge Chromium to Defaults

Recently, Microsoft has adopted the Chromuim engine for Microsoft Edge, the built-in web browser of Windows 10. If it doesn't work for you properly, you may want to completely reset it to defaults and restore all its settings to defaults.

Microsoft Edge is now a Chromium-based browser with a number of exclusive features like Read Aloud and services tied to Microsoft instead of Google. The browser has already received a few updates, with support for ARM64 devices in Edge Stable 80. Also, Microsoft Edge is still supporting a number of aging Windows versions, including Windows 7, which has recently reached its end of support. Check out Windows Versions Supported by Microsoft Edge Chromium and Edge Chromium latest roadmap. Finally, interested users can download MSI installers for deployment and customization.

For pre-release versions, Microsoft is currently using three channels to deliver updates to Edge Insiders. The Canary channel receives updates daily (except Saturday and Sunday), the Dev channel is getting updates weekly, and the Beta channel is updated every 6 weeks. Microsoft is going to support Edge Chromium on Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, alongside macOS, Linux (coming in the future) and mobile apps on iOS and Android. Windows 7 users will receive updates until July 15, 2021.

It is not hard to reset Microsoft Edge using the special option in its Settings.

However, the option provided by Microsoft doesn't remove extensions, just disables them. Also, it doesn't remove saved passwords, favorites, and keeps other data.

So, you may need to remove the data that the built-it tool doesn't touch. It can be achieved  by removing the profile folder of Edge. Keep in mind: By resetting Microsoft Edge to defaults you will restore all its settings back to their defaults, and also DELETE ALL PROFILES, EXTENSIONS AND BOOKMARKS!

To Completely Reset Microsoft Edge Chromium to Defaults,

  1. Close all Microsoft Edge windows.
  2. Open File Explorer.
  3. Copy and paste the following location into its address bar: %LocalAppData%\Microsoft. It will expand to the C:\Users\your user name\AppData\Local\Microsoft path.
  4. Delete the following folder(s), depending on the browser channel(s) you are using and want to reset.
    • Edge - for the stable app version
    • Edge Beta - for Edge BETA
    • Edge Dev - for Edge DEV.
    • Edge SxS - for Edge CAN (Canary).

You are done. Now you can open the browser and start using it from scratch.

This method works in all Windows versions supported by Edge, including Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Actual Edge Versions


Download Microsoft Edge

You can download pre-release Edge version for Insiders from here:

Download Microsoft Edge Insider Preview

The stable version of the browser is available on the following page:

Download Microsoft Edge Stable

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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