Microsoft Edge on Chromium: What Does It Mean? Microsoft has ceased producing its own browser engine in favor of Google's Chromium. The software's project manager explains the reason for the move. Sep 15, 2020 Chromium Edge is a version of Microsoft Edge that's built on Chromium instead of Microsoft's own web browser technology. Microsoft takes code from the open source Chromium project, adds its own features and user interface, and releases it as Microsoft Edge. Other browsers, like Chrome and Brave, are developed using this same method.
Summary
Microsoft has released a new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. This new version provides best in class compatibility with extensions and websites. Additionally, this new version provides great support for the latest rendering capabilities, modern web applications, and powerful developer tools across all supported OS platforms.
Chromium is a good browser and this review of Edge has me wondering why I haven't been using the 'mother of all browsers' all along. Looks like I'll be heading back to Chromium for a while. When Chromium Edge launched and eventually replaced legacy Edge as the default browser on Windows 10, it did so with a slick new logo. This logo stretched across platforms suggesting a single. Microsoft Edge is based on Chromium, the open-source browser engine developed (though not exclusively) by Google. Any website, web app, or web service that works in any Chromium-based browser, such as Google Chrome, will work in Edge too.
To learn more about the new Microsoft Edge, see the following resources:
Improvements and fixes
This update includes the following quality improvements:
Start menu pins, tiles, and shortcuts for the current version of Microsoft Edge will migrate to the new Microsoft Edge.
Taskbar pins and shortcuts for the current version of Microsoft Edge will migrate to the new Microsoft Edge.
The new Microsoft Edge will be pinned to the taskbar. If the current version of Microsoft Edge is already pinned, it will be replaced.
The new Microsoft Edge will add a shortcut to the desktop. If the current version of Microsoft Edge already has a shortcut, it will be replaced.
By default, most protocols that Microsoft Edge handles will be migrated to the new Microsoft Edge.
The current version of Microsoft Edge will be hidden from UX surfaces in the OS. This includes settings, applications, and any file or protocol support dialog boxes.
Attempts to start the current version of Microsoft Edge will redirect to the new Microsoft Edge.
The First Run Experience (FRE) will auto-launch the first time that a device restarts after the new Microsoft Edge is installed.
Data from earlier versions of Microsoft Edge (such as passwords, favorites, open tabs) will be available in the new Microsoft Edge.
This new Microsoft Edge does not support uninstalling of this update.
To view supported features, please see the Microsoft Edge Platform Status.
Known issues in this update
We are currently not aware of any issues with this update.
How to get this update
Manual download
If you want to download the new Microsoft Edge, go to https://www.microsoft.com/edge.
Prerequisites
For Windows 10, version 1909:
No additional updates are required.
For Windows 10, version 1903:
You must have one of the following updates or a later update installed to apply this update:
Recommended: October 8, 2019—KB4517389 (OS Build 18362.418)
Optional: September 26, 2019—KB4517211 (OS Build 18362.387)
File information
File attributes
The English (United States) version of this software update installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables.
File verification
File hash information
File name | SHA1 hash | SHA256 hash |
|---|---|---|
Windows10.0-KB4541302-x86.msu | F4C0F8BFB1CDB9031C68AD92EF4550EB29BC4EB0 | ED7205807F35B020D6A02419FC586C7666CF0848FEA187D12EE029F1B558A5CC |
Windows10.0-KB4541302-x64.msu | 5AB99737C6E98AF331B2F27C749BCD464E50D0DC | 74F8AA021627A1B961E6C19985A8D1004149AF3171DEE720BB4ECD3B354A524D |
For all supported x86-based versions
File name | File version | File size | Date | Time |
Microsoftedgestandaloneinstaller.exe | 1.3.119.43 | 74,428,112 | 14-Feb-2020 | 02:54 |
For all supported x64-based versions
File name | File version | File size | Date | Time |
Microsoftedgestandaloneinstaller.exe | 1.3.119.43 | 76,864,208 | 14-Feb-2020 | 02:54 |
References
Learn about the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.
As of Wednesday, January 15, Microsoft will make the non-beta version of its new, Chromium-based version of the Edge browser to Windows 10 Home and Pro users. We covered the beta version of Chromium-based Edge in November. The beta was still pretty raw then—but 'raw' is a relative term. The new Edge project began with a complete and fully functional Web browser—Chromium—so it worked fine for browsing the Web. There were just a few rough edges as far as installing extensions, logging into them, and the like.We've seen one take waxing nostalgic for the old, purely Microsoft developed version of Edge, but we don't think many people will miss it much. It's not so much that Edge was a bad browser, per se—it just didn't serve much of a purpose. Edge didn't have the breadth of extensions or the user-base enthusiasm of Chrome or Firefox—and it was no better than they are at running crusty old 'Internet Explorer Only' websites and Web apps.
Edge On Chromium Install
While there is some validity to worrying about one company 'controlling the Web' and one of Google's biggest competitors now becoming a Google downstream, we don't think those concerns add up to much. We don't want to see the full-on Google Chrome become any more indispensable than it already is—but we don't think Microsoft trading in its own fully proprietary, closed-source HTML-rendering engine for one of the two biggest open source rendering engines is a bad thing.
We downloaded the final beta version of Chromium-based Edge—the one available on the afternoon of the 14th, one day before the official launch—and took it for a spin in a Windows 10 virtual machine. Mostly, it still just looks like a slightly plainer version of Chrome—which isn't a bad thing! Sites load snappily, UI elements are familiar, and so forth. One of the biggest obvious improvements since the last time we test-drove Chromium Edge is the ability to install extensions from the official Chrome Web store.
AdvertisementMicrosoft's own Web store is still extremely sparse—we went looking for the must-have, EFF-developed HTTPS Everywhere, and instead we got a recommendation for 'NBC Sports'—which does not seem well-loved by its users. However, typing 'chrome Web store' in the address/search bar took us right where we needed to go and presented us with an obvious tool-tip for installing third-party extensions. That was that—HTTPS Everywhere installed with a single click, just as you'd expect it to on Chromium or Google Chrome itself.
Chromium-based Edge is still missing a couple of obvious features to compete with the full Google Chrome experience—most notably, browser history and extensions don't sync between devices yet. This is described as a temporary problem in the 'Known Issues' page, and it may even be fixed already in the production version launching today.
Pushing the new Edge as something to look forward to right now is difficult—we suspect most people who really care about their browser will continue using Chrome, Firefox, or whatever less-well-known variant they've found and learned to love. Meanwhile, the people who have actually been actively using Edge likely won't notice much of a change—unless Microsoft bobbles something in the user data import functionality when they push the official, non-beta version out through Windows Update later this month.
Microsoft Edge On Chromium
In all likelihood, the change absolutely will improve the lives of the folks who 'just click the blue E' in the long run, though. It will likely make it easier for Microsoft to lure more technical users—who demand feature and extension parity but might be interested in Edge's Azure authentication back-end—away from Google Chrome.
Edge On Chromium Browser
This article initially stated that Chromium-based Edge was being pushed over Windows Update beginning on the 15th; a Microsoft representative reached out to correct us: it was only available for download beginning on the 15th, and will not be pushed over Windows Update until later this month. The article has been updated accordingly.