Internet Explorer was the default browser in Windows operating system for many years. Microsoft introduced a new built-in Edge browser in Windows 10 replacing the outdated Internet Explorer. The new browser provides a new challenge to Windows 10 users as they try to get familiar with the new interface. In addition, Windows 10 has both IE and Edge adding a bit confusion to users. Fortunately, Microsoft allows users to repair Microsoft Edge browser to resolve some of its common issues as well as learn how to troubleshoot the issues.
Related: How to fix slow Microsoft Edge?
How to Repair Microsoft Edge Browser in Windows 10?
In this guide, we will show you how to repair or reset Microsoft Edge and fix some of the issues affecting your browser. If your browser is not working right, you may try the following fixes.
- Restore Edge
- Repair and reset the browser
- Update Windows
- Uninstall and reinstall Edge
1. Restore Microsoft Edge Default Settings
If you can able to open Edge browser, clearing the browsing data could resolve some of the browser issues.
- Launch the browser, click the “Settings & more” icon (the 3 dots on the upper-right corner) and select “Settings” from the menu.
- Go to the “Privacy & security” settings and then under the “Browsing Data”, click “Choose what to clear”.
- By default, the browsing history, cached data, cookies and tabs data are checked. You can click the check boxes to select more options and then click the “Clear” button.
- To reset the browser to its default settings, check all the boxes to clear all your previous browser data.
- Restart the browser and to see whether the issue has been resolved.
2. Repair or Reset Microsoft Edge in Windows Settings App
Repairing Edge resolves any detected issues while keeping your browser data intact. On the other hand, resetting will clear some of your browsing data such as history and cached files.
- To repair/ reset Microsoft edge, press “Win + I” keys on the keyboard to open the Windows settings app.
- Go to “Apps” settings and under “Apps & features”, look for and click, “Microsoft Edge”.
- Click the “Advanced options” link and browse down to the “Reset” section.
- Click the repair button and wait for Windows to repair the app. Once complete, you will see a tick next to the button and the browser will automatically open.
- To reset, click the reset option and confirm the action by clicking “Reset” again on the resulting warning prompt.
- After reset, you will notice a tick against the “Reset” button.
Related: How to fix Wi-Fi dropping issue in Windows 10?
3. Install the Latest Windows 10 Updates
Microsoft releases regular updates to fix bugs, add extra features and enhance Windows security. This can help to replace outdated files, fix vulnerabilities or update device drivers. Therefore updating the OS will fix bugs that could be affecting your browser.
- To check for updates, press the “Win + I” shortcut keys and select “Update & security” settings.
- Under “Windows Update”, click the “Check for updates” button.
- Windows will look for and display available updates. Wait for Windows to download and install the updates.
- Once complete, restart your computer to ensure that all the updates have been successfully installed.
- Open Edge browser to see if the issues were resolved.
Note, some of the recent Windows 10 updates caused many problems rather than fixing the existing issues. You can disable automatic Windows update and always wait for a week time after releasing the new update. This will help to check the user’s feedback before you upgrade.
4. Uninstall and Reinstall Microsoft Edge
If the above solutions did not fix the issues, you can try to uninstall and reinstall the Edge browser. However, the “Uninstall” button in the app settings is inactive, so you will need to follow the following steps.
4.1. Uninstall MS Edge
- If Edge is open, close the application.
- Navigate to “C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Packages” in File Explorer.
- Look for and delete the folder named “Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe”. If prompted, confirm the action to continue <Uninstall Edge.png>.
- Once done, close all running apps and restart your computer.
4.2. Reinstall MS Edge
- Press the “Win + X” on your keyboard and select “PowerShell (Admin)” option.
- Change the directory to your user account directory; “cd C:\users\ [username]”.
- Type the command, “Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose}” and hit Enter to execute.
- You will get “Operation completed…” notification once the command executes successfully.
- Now restart your PC again and launch Edge. This will have resolved any issues affecting the browser.
Conclusion
Microsoft Edge is the new Windows 10 default browser that offers a finer and secure web browsing experience. If you encounter a problem when browsing with Edge, no need to panic as most of the Edge common issues can be fixed with ease. You can use the above methods to repair Microsoft Edge in Windows 10. The best approach to troubleshoot and fix Edge issues is to start with the simplest method like restarting the app or the PC and continue to more advanced methods, until the browser starts working correctly. You may have to try all the option to fix your issue.
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