Microsoft is building a Chromium-powered web browser that will replace Edge

[mullet_man]

Ok I seem to have this working as you describe now, it's a shame you have to click sync and not force it to just sync, the least user input from students and lecturing staff the better I find!

I think this is coming, I exchanged a few tweets with someone who must be working on Edge at Microsoft who said they are working at "making on prem sync great" his words.

 

I asked for the sync to be able to turned on via Group Policy.

[mullet_man]

I also said I was holding off deploying but if I knew I could turn on syncing at a later date then I would deploy Edge now if users didn't click yes to sync.

[MArmstrong]

that sounds great, hopefully it doesn't take too long! Been using it personally on my work machines for a while now and I find it really good

[Simcfc73]

I've disabled it for students and just going to roll out for staff. The auto enable option in GP would be great.

[Arthur]

edge://surf

 

[mullet_man]

I've disabled it for students and just going to roll out for staff. The auto enable option in GP would be great.

 

That's my plan for the new year, roll out for staff and when we an enable sync to roll out for students.

[6Foot2]

Link: No more installing Microsoft's Chromium-centered Edge by hand: Windows 10 will do it for you automatically [The Register]

 

Something something pushing us over the Edge.

 

Microsoft warned late last year that it was making plans to distribute the Chromium-based version of its Edge browser in Windows 10 updates. It began doing so earlier this year, although manual installation was required, but now Redmond has taken the distribution of Edge via Windows Update a step further by initiating installation.

 

With the deprecation of the legacy version of Edge last week, Microsoft has released guidance for Windows administrators that the Chromium flavor of Edge will replace the EdgeHTML-based version in Windows Update.

 

The Microsoft support articles KB4541301, KB4541302, and KB4559309, as noted by GHacks, detail the deployment prerequisites for Windows 10 version 1803 and 1809, for Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909, and for the full range of Windows 10 versions from 1803 to 2004, respectively.

 

"This update will be downloaded and installed automatically from Windows Update," the documents state.

 

The automated browser replacement routine will migrate Start menu pins, tiles, and shortcuts, as well as taskbar pins and shortcuts. It will pin the new Edge to the taskbar and add a shortcut to the desktop, removing the old Edge if present. Data like passwords, favorites, and open tabs will be preserved through migration to the new browser.

 

The current version of Microsoft Edge will be hidden from UX surfaces in the OS – because people don't need to know such things. Also, Chromium Edge does not support uninstalling the update.

 

Enterprise admins and home users have the option to prevent this with the Edge Blocker Toolkit...

 

^*My emphasis

[Arthur]

Microsoft’s next major Windows 10 update will include the new Edge browser

 

Microsoft is planning to build its new Chromium-based Edge browser into Windows 10 later this year. The new browser has been available since January, but it has not yet been built into Windows 10 itself. That will change with an update later this year, named 20H2. Microsoft has started testing this 20H2 update with Windows Insiders today, and the company plans to use the 20H2 naming for testers and commercial customers and a more friendly name for consumers.

 

While the next major update will include Edge by default, it’s not clear what else Microsoft is planning. Much like last year’s second big Windows 10 update, this upcoming update “will have a faster installation experience because the update will install like a monthly update,” according to Microsoft.

[MartinT]

Just got another update to Version 83.0.478.50 (Official build) (64-bit).

[Simcfc73]

My sync isn't working on the first day staff are back in.. grrrrr

 

Its been working fine all through the summer.

 

Getting error

 

We can't sign you in at the moment

The Edge team have been notified

Error 5. 2. 0

[Simcfc73]

Just FYI, its a Group policy that's causing this again and I can't find it. I ended up re-creating them back in May but its come back.

 

Its also affecting new installs of Outlook where the MFA box pops up instantly and disappears.

[Arthur]

The latest Edge ADMXs contain the new redirection policies.

 

Redirection from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge for compatibility with modern web sites

 

Many modern websites have designs that are incompatible with Internet Explorer. Whenever an Internet Explorer user visits an incompatible public site, they get a message that tells them the site is incompatible with their browser, and they need to manually switch to a different browser.

 

The need to manually switch to a different browser changes starting with Microsoft Edge Stable version 87.

 

When a user goes to a site that is incompatible with Internet Explorer, they will be automatically redirected to Microsoft Edge. This article describes the user experience for redirection and the group policies that are used to configure or disable automatic redirection.

[mavhc]

Can we just set it to * ?

[mullet_man]

V86 has the sync policy which you can set to force on, it works I tested on a laptop today and the sign in page popped up for a second went away and auto signed me in.

 

I need to check that the staff who haven't turned sync on, now have it switched on as the GP is now set to force it on.

[CHiLL]

V86 has the sync policy which you can set to force on, it works I tested on a laptop today and the sign in page popped up for a second went away and auto signed me in.

 

I need to check that the staff who haven't turned sync on, now have it switched on as the GP is now set to force it on.

I thought the sync stuff mainly worked prior to v86? I think syncing addons and passwords already works. History doesn't, which is what I'm waiting for next.

[eddyc]

I thought the sync stuff mainly worked prior to v86? I think syncing addons and passwords already works. History doesn't, which is what I'm waiting for next.

 

Am I missing something with regard to sync? Our policies are configured and our browsers are automatically signing us in as the current user but favourites, addons and passwords aren’t retained.

 

We have two on site domain controllers plus we sync all accounts to Microsoft 365.

 

Have I missed a step out?

 

Thanks

 

eddyc

[CHiLL]

Am I missing something with regard to sync? Our policies are configured and our browsers are automatically signing us in as the current user but favourites, addons and passwords aren’t retained.

 

We have two on site domain controllers plus we sync all accounts to Microsoft 365.

 

Have I missed a step out?

 

Thanks

 

eddyc

I must admit, I haven't tried it, so I will later today. When I check he user's preferences in Edge, they show the options for syncing those items as enabled and greyed out, so they can't be disabled.

[mullet_man]

Am I missing something with regard to sync? Our policies are configured and our browsers are automatically signing us in as the current user but favourites, addons and passwords aren’t retained.

 

We have two on site domain controllers plus we sync all accounts to Microsoft 365.

 

Have I missed a step out?

 

Thanks

 

eddyc

Have you restricted sign in to your O365 accounts? I know when I was testing it wanted to sync the local AD account.

 

Could that be your issue?

 

There is a GP to restrict to only certain email patterns for example

[Katy]

Have you restricted sign in to your O365 accounts? I know when I was testing it wanted to sync the local AD account.

 

Could that be your issue?

 

There is a GP to restrict to only certain email patterns for example

Another thing to try - when I was testing it was trying to sync the local AD account on PCs which were not hybrid AD joined, once I sorted out hybrid AD join for the PCs it logged in with the Azure accounts and synced OK.

[Steve21]

Not sure if I missed it in another thread, but just to let you know "new" Edge is now being released via WSUS/SCCM updates (rather than seperate Edge ones) so expect it to start rolling out soon unless you remove it (1803+ it seems on our SCCM)

 

Steve

[MartinT]

It's built into W10 20H2.

[jthompson]

It was built into W10 2004 as well, iirc.

[Simcfc73]

I ended up setting the syncing to work in school rather than through the web.. synced for the kids and teachers now and is stored in their home folder in a folder called Edge.

 

Seems to work perfectly now.

[CHiLL]

I ended up setting the syncing to work in school rather than through the web.. synced for the kids and teachers now and is stored in their home folder in a folder called Edge.

 

Seems to work perfectly now.

I did that and have since reverted back to local profiles. Each Edge profile was about 2GB per user and eating up a ton of space on the storage, plus we had the same configuration for Chrome. Totaling about 4GB per user for browser profiles in their home folders, with the only reason the policy being enabled being that the users could access their bookmarks on other computers. We determined that because only a handful of users (mainly admin staff) complain about bookmarks, it wasn't worth the storage space and reverted it.

[arh1a]

I did that and have since reverted back to local profiles. Each Edge profile was about 2GB per user and eating up a ton of space on the storage, plus we had the same configuration for Chrome. Totaling about 4GB per user for browser profiles in their home folders, with the only reason the policy being enabled being that the users could access their bookmarks on other computers. We determined that because only a handful of users (mainly admin staff) complain about bookmarks, it wasn't worth the storage space and reverted it.

 

I would check over the GPO settings. Ours all well under 1MB in size when syncing to there Home Folders. I moved to syncing to the O365 accounts now so they can sync everything else like passwords etc.