Can You Uninstall Microsoft Edge Using PowerShell? (What Works)

You can only uninstall Microsoft Edge using PowerShell or Settings if your PC was set up in the European Economic Area (EEA). In the US and everywhere else, Windows treats Edge as part of the operating system and blocks its uninstaller.

Below I show how to check what’s installed and why removal is blocked, the command that works in the EEA, and the safe ways to get Edge out of your way everywhere else. I tested the checks on Windows 11 in PowerShell 7.6 and 5.1.

Check the installed Edge version

Edge lives in Program Files (x86). The file version tells you which build you have:

$edge = Join-Path -Path ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)} -ChildPath 'Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe'
"Edge installed: $(Test-Path -Path $edge)"
"Edge version:   $((Get-Item -Path $edge).VersionInfo.ProductVersion)"

Output:

Edge installed: True
Edge version:   154.0.4258.37

For other apps, see uninstalling a program with PowerShell.

Why Edge won’t uninstall outside the EEA

Edge’s entry in the Uninstall registry key has NoRemove set to 1, which hides the Uninstall button in Settings. Its uninstaller is setup.exe with these arguments:

$key = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Edge'
$entry = Get-ItemProperty -Path $key

"Version:      $($entry.DisplayVersion)"
"NoRemove:     $($entry.NoRemove)"
"Uninstaller:  $(($entry.UninstallString -split '"')[1] | Split-Path -Leaf)"
"Arguments:    $(($entry.UninstallString -split '"')[2].Trim())"

Output:

Version:      154.0.4258.37
NoRemove:     1
Uninstaller:  setup.exe
Arguments:    --uninstall --msedge --channel=stable --system-level --verbose-logging

Running that setup.exe command yourself usually does nothing outside the EEA. Tricks that force it past this, such as extra switches or edited region files, aren’t supported by Microsoft and can break Windows Update and apps that need Edge.

Don’t remove WebView2

Edge shares its engine with the WebView2 Runtime, which many apps use to show web content, including Microsoft 365 apps, Teams and Widgets. EdgeUpdate manages both:

Get-ChildItem -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\Clients' |
    ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath } |
    Where-Object name -like 'Microsoft Edge*' |
    ForEach-Object { '{0,-32} {1}' -f $_.name, $_.pv }

Output:

Microsoft Edge                   154.0.4258.37
Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime  154.0.4258.37
Microsoft Edge Update            1.3.271.7

Even where Edge itself can be removed, keep WebView2 installed.

Uninstall Edge in the EEA

On PCs set up with an EEA region, Windows 11 23H2 and later let you remove Edge in Settings > Apps > Installed apps. From PowerShell, winget does the same:

winget uninstall --id Microsoft.Edge

Windows decides this from the region chosen during setup, and Microsoft says it can only change with a PC reset. The details are in Microsoft’s Digital Markets Act announcement.

Keep Edge out of your way everywhere else

If you can’t uninstall Edge, you can stop it from running in the background. These Microsoft-supported policies turn off Startup boost and background apps. Run them as administrator:

$policy = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge'
New-Item -Path $policy -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $policy -Name StartupBoostEnabled -Value 0 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $policy -Name BackgroundModeEnabled -Value 0 -Type DWord

Then choose another default browser in Settings > Apps > Default apps, and unpin Edge from the taskbar.

Remove Edge Beta, Dev or Canary

The preview channels are normal apps and do uninstall anywhere, for example winget uninstall --id Microsoft.Edge.Beta. Uninstalling programs with PowerShell covers other apps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related software guides:

• Uninstall a program
• Uninstall Firefox
• List installed programs
• Install winget
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