Disable Microsoft Edge Tab Preloading in Windows 10

Windows 10 comes with a new default browser, Microsoft Edge. It's a Universal app which has extension support, a fast rendering engine and a simplified user interface. In this article, we will see how to prevent the Edge app from automatically preloading the start and new tab pages when you open the app.

Microsoft Edge can load the Start and New Tab page during Windows sign in and each time Microsoft Edge is closed. By default it is allowed to preload these pages.

Microsoft Edge loads the Start and New Tab page during Windows sign in and each time Microsoft Edge is closed in order to minimize the amount of time required to start up Microsoft Edge and to start a new tab.

If you have issues with this behavior, you can disable it. Starting in Windows 10 version 1809, there is a special Group Policy option which controls the page preloading feature. It can be enabled or disabled with either Local Group Policy Editor or REGEDIT.exe. Here is how.

To disable Microsoft Edge tab preloading in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open Registry Editor.
2. Go to the following Registry key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MicrosoftEdge\TabPreloader

   Tip: See how to jump to the desired Registry key with one click.

   If you do not have such a key, then just create it.

3. Here, create a new 32-bit DWORD value AllowTabPreloading. Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows, you still need to use a 32-bit DWORD as the value type.
   Leave its value data as 0 to disable the tab preloading feature.
4. To make the changes done by the Registry tweak take effect, you need to sign out and sign in again to your user account.

Later, you can delete the AllowTabPreloading value to restore defaults.

Disable Microsoft Edge tab preloading in Windows 10 for all users

To disable the Microsoft Edge pre-launching feature for all users, ensure that you are signed in as Administrator before proceeding.

1. 1. Go to the following Registry key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\MicrosoftEdge\TabPreloader

      Create the same value here, AllowTabPreloading, as described above.

   2. Tip: You can switch between HKCU and HKLM in Windows 10 Registry Editor quickly.
   3. Restart Windows 10 to apply the restriction and you are done.

To save your time, I made ready-to-use Registry files. You can download them here:

Download Registry Files

Using the Local Group Policy Editor app

If you are running Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor app to configure the options mentioned above with a GUI.

1. Press Win + R keys together on your keyboard and type:

   gpedit.msc

   Press Enter.

2. Group Policy Editor will open. Go to User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components/Microsoft Edge.
3. On the right, configure the policy option Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed. Set it to Prevent tab preloading.

That's it.

See also:

• Disable Microsoft Edge Pre-launching in Windows 10
• Set Tabs Aside in Microsoft Edge (Tab Groups)
• Print Web Pages Clutter-Free in Microsoft Edge
• Read Aloud in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10
• Run Microsoft Edge in Private Mode
• Enable Extensions in Private Mode in Microsoft Edge

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