How to Change the Default Browser for Windows 11

The default web browser in Windows 11 is Microsoft Edge. If you prefer another web browser, such as Google Chrome or Firefox, you may want to change your default browser to one of them.

In Windows 10, you can change the default browser to Chrome or a similar browser by going to Windows Settings, Applications, Default Applications and clicking Microsoft Edge under Web Browsers. However, in Windows 11, the design of the Apps - Default apps screen in the Settings app has changed from Windows 10, and you may be confused about how to change the default browser.

Also, if you have upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the default browser you set in Windows 10 should be retained, but there is a definite possibility that it will revert to Edge, so it is a good idea to learn how to change it to another web browser.

How to change the default browser in Windows 11

First, please go to "Settings" – "Apps" – "Default apps".

Then in the "Set defaults for applications" section, click on a web browser you want to use by default, such as Google Chrome.

In the next window, you can set this browser as default for certain file types or link types, such as ".htm", ".html", ".shtml", ".xhtml", "HTTP" and "HTTPS", etc. To do this, just click on the item you want to modify, then select the browser (like Google Chrome) under "Other options" section, and click "OK" to confirm it.

Tip: For PDF files, if you don't want to use the default Edge browser to view it, you can also change the ".pdf" setting from Edge to your preferred PDF reader on the "Default Applications" screen where you can select any web browser.

As you can see, Windows 11 still provides a way to modify the default browser and has the detailed settings all in one screen. This may be a convenient improvement for people who are familiar with computer operation, but for other users who know little about extensions and protocols, it may instead make things more complicated. If you also have this confusion, try the above method.

(Update) Microsoft brings back the option to change default browser

Windows 11 has had a lot of problems since its release, such as AMD Ryzen processor performance issue and file explorer memory leak. In addition, some settings, such as modifying the default associated applications are also more troublesome than Windows 10. Among them, modifying the default browser is criticized by many users.

As there are more files associated with Microsoft Edge browser, each of them has to be modified separately. For example, if you try to change the default browser to Chrome or Firefox, you will need to manually change the file type for all possible web-related formats. This includes HTM, HTML, HTTP, HTTPS, SHTML, WEBP, SVG, and even PDF. if you forget to check the boxes for all the necessary options, you will not be able to use Chrome or Firefox as your default browser.

This tedious operation is quite annoying, and many users think that Microsoft is forcibly changing users' preferences in order to market Microsoft Edge.

In fact, the new Edge, which uses Google Chrome's open source Chromium kernel, has done well and quickly captured a lot of market. But this strong promotion strategy has still caused a lot of users and manufacturers to resent, and Microsoft has also received counterattacks from rivals such as Google and Opera.

Thankfully, in the recently pushed preview update (Windows 11 Build 22509) for Dev channel users, Microsoft has finally enabled a new toggle that lets you modify the default browser settings for all web-related file formats, including HTTP and HTTPs.

After the system is updated to Build 22509, users can simply check the specified browser in "Settings" - "Apps" - "Default apps" to complete the settings with one click.

However, there is feedback that the feature does not completely release the default browser restriction, but only directs access to HTTP and HTTPS protocols to the default browser set by the user, while still keeping the options of PDF, SVG, XHT, etc. for Edge.

This means that when users want to view these types of files, Win 11 will still use Edge browser as the default browser instead of the default browser set by the user. In any case, this has been much easier than the previous operation that required item-by-item changes.

This feature of one-click modification of the default application is still being tested in the development channel, and official users may have to wait a while.