Nowadays, Microsoft Edge may be considered a decent browser, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, according to numerous estimates, Edge is not the preferred choice for most people, accounting for only 5.2% of the market, while Chrome dominates with a whopping 65.3%.
The majority of users who opt against Edge are satisfied with simply installing Chrome, Firefox, or Opera and setting it as their default browser in Windows 11 or 10. However, for some individuals, merely avoiding Microsoft’s browser and leaving it as a dormant feature on their Start menus isn’t sufficient; they want to completely remove Edge from their systems.
Typically, uninstalling an application in Windows 11 or 10 is a straightforward process. You navigate to Settings, then Apps, followed by Apps & features. From there, you locate the app you wish to uninstall, select the uninstall option, and voila! However, when it comes to Edge, the uninstall option is grayed out, requiring you to employ some command-line wizardry to accomplish the task.
Table of Contents
How to Uninstall Microsoft Edge in Windows 11/10
1. Navigate toward the Edge About page by going to the browser’s settings menu and then Help & feedback -> About Microsoft Edge. The edge About page will appear.
2. Copy the version number into your clipboard by highlighting it (just the number) and hitting CTRL + C.
V to enable clipboard history on Windows 11.3. Open the command prompt in admin mode. The simplest way is by searching for “cmd” in the Windows search, right clicking the top result and selecting “Run as administrator“.
4. Enter the next command where [VERSION] is replaced with the actual Edge version number (in my instance, it was 125.0.2535.67).
cd %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\[VERSION]\Installer
5. Enter the following uninstall command.
setup --uninstall --force-uninstall --system-level6. Make sure to switch your default browser if you haven’t already. Even if you uninstalled Edge, Windows 11 will still show it as the default (with a blue box icon), which might create issues when you attempt to open a link in a different application.
If you want to reinstall Microsoft Edge, you can find and download it from the Microsoft Store.
Conclusion
Uninstalling Microsoft Edge can free up resources and give you control over your choice of browser. Follow these steps carefully, and remember that Microsoft Edge might reappear with major Windows updates, so consider disabling its pre-launch settings via Group Policy Editor to maintain your preferred setup.
