Can't Stop Edge from Opening at Startup

Anonymous
2021-04-05T17:07:03+00:00

I imagine this is very old news, but I thought I'd put it together, maybe Microsoft or Community can help.

I’ve got Windows 10. After an update, Microsoft Edge is now apparently permanently running at startup. Since I primarily game using the machine, the Edge startup is an annoyance, repeated now hundreds of times. I must shut off the program each time to see my background. So, I embarked on a journey to disable Edge at startup. It’s been fruitless.

I can only assume marketing elements at Microsoft said: “Let’s make Edge activate on startup to sell it. The people are sheep, and they won’t be able to not use the program, if IT’S ALWAYS THERE.”

I’ve now spent hours looking for fixes and trying to resolve this. Here’s what I tried (nothing worked):

1.

Open Task manager > Startup Tab
Look for Microsoft Edge then Disable

(Edge wasn’t listed)

2.

Press Start then search Settings
Select Accounts. >Click Sign in Options.
Scroll all the way down and turn off "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart,"

(Turned it off, didn’t stop it)

3.

Press WIN+R to open Run
Type in shell:startup then hit Enter.
Look for Edge inside the folder then delete it.

(Edge wasn’t listed, the folder was empty)

4.

Click on start menu (Left bottom of screen) Type cmd in keyboard Command prompt option will appear. Right-click on Command Prompt. Select Run as Administrator. Then type sfc /scannow (Space before slash) there and hit enter. Let the scan be 100% and completed. Then: Again click on start menu(Left bottom of screen) Type cmd in keyboard Command prompt option will appear. Right-click on Command Prompt. Select Run as Administrator. Then type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (Space before all slash) Hit Enter Let the scan be 100% and completed. After that restart your pc. Then please try updating from this https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/3159635/windows-10-update-assistant link manually then again restart the pc. You will be updated.

(I may have been updated, but it didn’t help. I restarted the computer, tried all the above fixes, no help.)

(BTW, this fix was given to me by a Microsoft Help Chat agent. Funny I couldn’t find it online. Well, now you will be able to.)

(Microsoft or somebody, please tell me I’m wrong, and I don’t have to see this crappy marketing scheme play out again indefinitely.)

Microsoft Edge | Other | Windows 10

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Anonymous
2022-01-13T23:12:17+00:00

Hello, 

Edge version 97.0.1072.62 contains the fix and will be installed per your regular update policies over the next day or so. If you'd like to force the update immediately, you can head over to edge://settings/help in the address bar or Settings > About Microsoft Edge and trigger the update manually.

If you've made any registry edits or GPO changes as mitigation, you can revert those after the update!

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-14T12:17:16+00:00

    Umm I've been having the same problem but only since I updated to Windows 11, so finding this thread without a comprehensive working solution to the problem was kindof discouraging. So in a panic I tried to just... delete edge... I don't use it at all, I can't delete it from Settings>Apps, I don't like that it's in my face, this poping up behavior without being able to turn it off is ridiculous, so I just opened the file explorer, went to my hard drive, found the program files (mine was in Program Files (×86)> Microsoft>Edge>Application) and I just... deleted the whole folder... I know it's not a pretty solution, I now can't use Edge on my computer, because it doesn't open (because important files, aka the application is gone). But it works and it's easy. This problem was the last straw for me and I'm glad it's gone.

    EDIT: I'm stupid and should have read this thread all the way bc someone said in a few days an update will fix the problem. Let's hope it's fixed after that!

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-13T19:14:00+00:00

    I just tried all of the listed fixes until this point with no luck until hyborian8's post. 

    Method #3 on silicophilic.com (https://silicophilic.com/disable-microsoft-edge/) worked!

    One note is that the 'MicrosoftEdge\Main' folder was listed under my HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, not the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. 

    Second note is that this was the first shutdown test so apologies in advance if it doesn't hold. I know we're all frustrated about this.

    Thanks hyborian8!

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-13T08:50:07+00:00

    Call me cynical, but I think this is Microsoft's attempt to force you to use edge or at least have it running in the background at all times. Think about your options:

    1. Let it run automatically every time your system starts and you'll probably give up and use it eventually
    2. Enable Startup Boost - The description says "the browser will launch in the background..." so this is presumably the only built-in way to stop the browser popping up every time you boot up. You won't see the program, but it's always there, hogging your resources.

    Forcing/subverting users to adopt Edge instead of encouraging them with actual features is pretty slimey in my opinion. There's no good reason to have the browser automatically open on boot and NOT have a setting to toggle that "feature" on and off.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-13T08:29:04+00:00

    JeremaihV

    Wow. Are you seriously claiming that Microsoft is opening Edge automatically for everyone who uses Windows accidentally? I would like to see that hold up in court.

    It would be like a hacker group claiming that they only accidentally broke into the accounts of everyone in the world. And then they say the issue "is known to us and is currently being investigated by our engineers. I don't know when a fix will be released yet... Thank you for your patience and understanding while this issue is being worked on."

    David

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