Disable First Run Experience in Microsoft Edge Chromium

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How to Disable First Run Experience in Microsoft Edge Chromium

Microsoft is now using the Chromium open source project for building their Edge browser. The Chromium version of Edge no longer uses EdgeHTML but Google's Blink engine as standard, which will work with Chrome extensions, a similar browsing experience to Chrome and a familiar look. Microsoft Edge now includes a browser policy, HideFirstRunExperience, to disable the First-run experience, including the splash screen, so it won't be shown when the user runs Microsoft Edge Chromium for the first time.

The Edge Chromium browser has been redesigned from scratch, so you'll find it works less like the legacy Microsoft Edge and more like Google's Chrome and other browsers. It's got tracking protection built in, Picture in Picture video, 4K video support for streaming websites, and lots more. The move to Chromium is key – it has allowed Microsoft to support Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, alongside macOS, Linux (coming in the future) and mobile apps on iOS and Android. The browser is much more universal, easier and quicker to use and is compatible with more websites.

The stable version of Microsoft Edge Chromium can be downloaded from the official web site:

Download Microsoft Edge Stable

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.

Interested users can download MSI installers for deployment and customization.

Microsoft Edge First Run Experience

The First Run Experience is special dialog what is displayed when the user starts Edge for the first time. It allows changing the following options:

  • Import existing user data from the legacy Edge app (edgeHTML).
  • Choose the feed type and the layout for the New Tab Page
  • The user can choose to sign in to Edge with his Microsoft Account
  • Turn on or off the Sync feature for the browser data and preferences.

When the First Run Experience is disabled,

  • -On the New Tab Page, the feed type will be set to MSN News and the layout to Inspirational.
  • The user will still be automatically signed into Microsoft Edge if the Windows account is of AAD or MSA type.
  • Sync will not be enabled by default and users will be able to turn on sync from the sync settings.

Before disabling the First Run Experience, ensure that your user account has administrative privileges. Now, follow the instructions below.

To Disable First Run Experience in Microsoft Edge Chromium,

  1. Download the following ZIP archive: Download ZIP archive.
  2. Extract its contents to any folder. You can place the files directly to the Desktop.
  3. Unblock the files.
  4. Double click on the Disable Microsoft Edge Chromium First Run Experience.reg file to merge it.
  5. To undo the change and re-enable the feature use the provided file Enable Microsoft Edge Chromium First Run Experience.reg.

You are done!

How it works

The Registry files above modify the Registry branch

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge]

Tip: See how to go to a Registry key with one click.

To enable the HideFirstRunExperience policy and disable the First Run Experience, create a new 32-bit DWORD value HideFirstRunExperience under the mentioned path and set its value data to 1. Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.

To restore the defaults, remove the HideFirstRunExperience value.

Note: The HideFirstRunExperience policy will be available in the Stable branch of the browser starting with Microsoft Edge 80.

 

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.

Actual Edge versions

The actual versions of Edge Chromium at the moment of this writing are as follows:

You will find many Edge tricks and features covered in the following post:

Hands-on with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

Also, see the following updates.

 

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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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