How to install the Microsoft Edge Group Policy template on Windows 10

Administration templates, as the name implies, are templates that contain Group Policy Objects (GPOs), which allow you to change more detailed system settings using the Local Group Policy Editor. While most group policy objects are available on Windows 10, for the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge, you have to manually download and install the templates.

In this tutorial, you will learn the steps to download and install the template policy to manage the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge with Local Group Policy Editor on Windows 10.

Install group policy templates for Microsoft Edge

To install template policy to manage Microsoft Edge through the Local Group Policy Editor, follow these steps:

Step 1. Open Microsoft Edge for the business website.

Step 2. In the 'Policy File' section, click the Download button.

Step 3. Select your version of Microsoft Edge. (Usually you want to use the latest stable version available).

Step 4. Select the build (latest version available).

Step 5. Choose the platform. Example: Windows 64-bit.

Step 6. Click the Get policy files option.

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Step 7. Click the Accept & download button.

Step 8. Double-click to open the MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates.zip file.

Step 9. Click the Extract all button from the 'Compressed Folder Tools' tab.

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Step 10. (Optional) Choose a location to extract the file .

Step 11. Select the option Show extracted files when complete.

Step 12. Click the Extract button.

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Step 13. Browse for the following path inside the 'MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates' folder (unzipped):

windowsadmx

Step 14. Select the files msedge.admx and msedgeupdate.admx, then click the Copy option from the 'Home' tab.

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Quick tip: Just copy the 'msedgeupdate.admx' file, if you want to control Microsoft Edge update settings.

Step 15. Browse to the following path:

C: WindowsPolicyDefinitions

Step 16. Click the Paste button from the 'Home' tab.

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Step 17. In the 'admx' folder, inside the 'MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates' folder, open the language folder representing your language. Example: en-US.

Step 18. Select the files msedge.adml and msedgeupdate.adml, then click the Copy option from the 'Home' tab.

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Quick tip: You just need to copy the file 'msedgeupdate.adml' if you also copied the file in step 12.

Step 19. Browse to the path suitable for your language:

C: WindowsPolicyDefinitionsen-US

In the above command, make sure to change en-US to a directory appropriate for your language.

Step 20. Click the Paste button from the 'Home' tab.

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View policies that control Microsoft Edge

After you have completed the steps, the new policies to control Microsoft Edge will be available in the Local Group Policy Editor inside the Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates and User Configuration> Administrative Templates path. And you can manage many aspects of the browser, including IE mode, restore to previous version, manage update settings, and control access to a lot of features.

Normally, you will see 3 different sections after installing the template, including Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Edge - Default Settings and Microsoft Edge Update.

1. The Microsoft Edge directory contains mandatory policies that cannot be modified by the user.
2. The Microsoft Edge - Default Settings folder contains recommended settings that you can set as default and user can change to other settings.
3. The Microsoft Edge Update folder has all the settings for managing browser updates, including the ability to turn off updates completely.

After making a policy change, you can confirm by browsing the edge: // policy page to see all the policies that have been applied to the browser.

This guide focuses on Windows 10, but you can refer to these steps for all supported versions of Windows. Also, these instructions are intended to add administrative templates on a single computer, but if you are using Active Directory and need to configure a device group, perhaps adding templates through Active Directory is a more efficient approach.

Good luck.

Jessica Tanner

Update 19 November 2020