Add Chromium Microsoft Edge Policies to Windows 10

[The AchieVer]

Add Chromium Microsoft Edge Policies to Windows 10 

 

Microsoft has released an early set of Group Policy templates for the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser on Windows 10.

These policies will allow administrators and IT pros to configure specific capabilities of the browser on one or more Windows 10 devices. For example, IT admins can block the installation of extensions for systems in their networks.

Because the new Edge is a browser that Microsoft builds from scratch based on the Chromium engine, there are no policies for the application in Windows 10.

Recently, however, the software giant released a set of templates to allow IT admins preview the management policies that the company is working on for the new Edge, and they are available for both Mac and Windows.

Microsoft warns that these policies could be further tuned as they are a work in progress. They are only available in English and policies for managing updates aren’t ready just yet. Additionally, not all the policies that Microsoft released as part of this set are currently implemented in the existing preview versions of Microsoft Edge.

“This is a work in progress. We are sharing this early draft with you for your feedback, but the list will change between now and our final release, with policies being added, removed or changed based on feedback,” Microsoft engineer Sean Lyndersay said.

The templates come in the form of a ZIP archive that includes the ADMX file, an English version of the ADML file, as well as a HTML document that lists all policies and their description.
 

 

 

The first thing you need to do is download the template archiveusing this page – note this is a direct download link for the ZIP archive.

If you run Windows 10, you can easily extract the files using the built-in support for ZIP archives.

Importing the templates in Windows 10 starts with the launch of the Group Policy Editor in the operating system.

Click the Start menu and type:

gpedit.msc

Next, follow this path to import the files:

Local Group Policy Editor > Computer Configuration > Right-click Administrative Templates > Add/Remove Templates > Add

Browse to the .adm file included in the archive and select it in the Group Policy Editor. The location of the file is the following:

\Microsoft Edge (Insider) AdministrativeTemplate\Microsoft Edge Chromium-based browser Administrative Template\windows\adm\en-US\msedge.adm

When you’re ready, click the Close button to complete the import. You can then find the imported policies at the following location in the Group Policy Editor:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Classic Administrative Templates (ADM)\Microsoft Edge

Given that the work on these policies hasn’t been finalized, you shouldn’t make any changes at this point, as your settings might not have any effect on the existing configuration.
 

 

 

Microsoft Edge is currently available in Dev and Canary builds of Windows 10, and Microsoft says it can’t provide an ETA on the beta build just yet. It’s believed that the production version of Microsoft Edge could be ready later this year, possibly in time for the 19H2 update due in the fall. Microsoft, however, has remained tight-lipped on any release target.

Once you add the new policies to your Windows 10 device, the operating system also creates additional entries in the Registry Editor for settings management. You can find all the registry entries at the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

Microsoft says it is already working on several other policies, and the full set will be available in Intune by default. They will be updated automatically with every release. Again, no ETA is available on this launch.

 

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