Is it possible to uninstall Edge on Windows 10 v20H2?

3

I searched Google and did setup --uninstall --force-uninstall --system-level, but that only uninstalled the Chromium-based Edge, restoring the old HTML Edge; when trying to uninstall that, I receive error:

Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_44.19041.423.0...
  Remove-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA, Removal failed.

  Please contact your software vendor. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CFA) error 0x80070032:
    AppX Deployment Remove operation on package Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_44.19041... from:
    C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge... failed.

      This app is part of Windows and cannot be uninstalled on a per-user basis.
      An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows Features on or off.
      However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.

Since Microsoft keeps changing Windows 10 and Edge, the information on Google seems to have been outdated. Is it possible to uninstall Edge or is that now impossible?

  • I want to uninstall Edge because it is annoying that Explorer launches Edge when clicking the blue question mark icon accidentally while trying to click the close button, and, once launched, Edge seems to keep running or even start on its own from the next system reboot.
windows-10
microsoft-edge
windows-10-v20h2
asked on Super User Dec 11, 2020 by Damn Vegetables • edited Feb 7, 2021 by JW0914

1 Answer

3

I am not sure of your overall time line, but Chromium Edge has completely replaced Legacy Edge.

So Legacy Edge is no longer available.

And, Chromium Edge (like the older Edge) is built into the operating system for a number of functions and cannot be removed.

You can easily make Google Chrome or other browser to be your default browser, so you are not in any way obligated to use Chromium Edge (although it has proven to be a reliable and excellent browser.

Note to readers: This post was written in December 2020 and was true at that point. Now (February 2021), Legacy Edge is completely gone on my machines and will be gone from Windows entirely in the second quarter 2021 as the result of continuing cumulative Windows Updates, and Chromium Edge is / will be the only Microsoft Edge browser.

answered on Super User Dec 11, 2020 by John • edited Feb 7, 2021 by John

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