You can remove Edge and Bing Search on Windows 11 even if you don't live in Europe
Microsoft announced this week that users in the European Economic Area will soon be able to remove Bing and Edge from Windows 11. Users from all European Union countries as well as those from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein will also be able to disable some ads and gain a couple of other privileges.
These users may uninstall Edge or Bing Search just like any other installed application once the feature lands. What Microsoft did not reveal is that users from outside the EEA region may also gain the same privileges.
Microsoft warned in the announcement that the region selected during setup determines whether the privileges are enabled on a Windows 11 system. Users who change the region at a later stage won't be able to gain the benefits, according to Microsoft.
What Microsoft failed to reveal is that it is indeed possible to make changes in the Registry to unlock the privileges, at least in development editions. It is too early to tell if the modifications apply to stable versions of Windows 11 as well. The first stable version is expected in the first half of 2024 and tests will show then if the Registry tweaks work for these versions as well.
Twitter user Albacore published instructions on changing the region and gaining the privileges. The instructions are not overly complicated, but they do require editing the Registry. It is recommended to create a backup of the system or at least from the Registry before making the modifications.
Note: modifying the region may impact some functionality of the operating system. Do not make these modifications on stable versions of Windows at this time. Also, users from the EEA do not need to make these modifications.
Here are step by step instructions on making the necessary modifications:
- Select Start, type regedit.exe and select the Registry Editor result from Search.
- Confirm the UAC prompt.
- Paste the string HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\DeviceRegion into the address field of the Registry Editor.
- Locate the DeviceRegion Dword on the right side and double-click on it.
- Consult this Microsoft support page to find the numeric value for a European Country. Germany has 94, France 84, Finland 77 and so on.
- Change the value of the DeviceRegion Dword to the new country code.
- Paste the string HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\International\Geo into the address field.
- Double-click on Nation and change it to the same value entered previously, e.g., 94 for Germany.
- Double-click on Name and change it to the country's code, e.g., DE for Germany.
- Paste the third and final string into the address field: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsSelfHost\Applicability
- Make sure that EnablePreviewBuilds has a value that is not 0.
- Make sure that the BranchName is ReleasePreview.
- Close the Registry Editor.
- Restart the PC.
You may now remove Edge from Settings > Apps like any other app. The Uninstall option should be available now.
I confirmed the process and others have too. Note that the functionality is not available in all development installations of Windows 11 yet. You can use ViVeTool to enable them by enabling
- IntegratedServicesPolicyEnforcement (44353396)
- IntegratedServicesPolicyControl (43699941)
Closing Words
The bypass works in development builds of Windows 11 and it will likely also work in stable versions, once the functionality lands. This has to be tested though and users should not rush to apply the tweaks without proper backup or confirmation from trusted sources.
All in all, it looks as if anyone may be able to gain the same benefits as EEA users in the near future.
Now You: would you remove Edge and Bing Search from Windows 11?
“Consult this Microsoft support page to find the numeric value for a European Country”
Can we not conflate the EEA and EU with “european countries”, it’s easier to write but it’s technically incorrect. As someone that comes from a country in europe which isn’t part of the EEA or the EU, it is annoying to read!
Where is my comment? :[
Yes this is actually a good thing, the fact that they have to allow the removal in some part of the world. Because now, that means they can’t nuke your machine for daring to remove these services yourself. Functioning without these services *has* to be a supported configuration.
“”You uninstalled Edge and now your system can’t boot after a forced automatic update? Too bad, so sad. Here’s a quarter, phone someone who cares.” (they can’t get away with doing this.)
That said I left Windows for Linux a long time ago and I’m not coming back.
Or . . .
https://github.com/rcmaehl/MSEdgeRedirect/
Cleaner, safer alternative.
Some alternatives mentioned on the site.
Grounding CoPilot–work in progress.
New script to completely remove Edge which seems a bit drastic and desperate.
A simpler approach would be to use O+O AppBuster to remove these apps.
No registry hacking required, and I can confirm it works just fine (Win 10 or 11).
This morning I opened edge and my extensions were gone.
I only use 2, Ublock and NoScript.
After reinstalling NoScript, all my permissions were still there.
I can’t agree, Edge is very useful nowadays. It has the best built-in PDF reader, with the best speech reader too. Furthermore Edge can save and entire website in JPG in one single click. And finally least but not last, it has one of the best built-in VPN ever done, and I tested so much.
Whoa! 5GB/month [free, sponsored with MS servers]–like that’s a big help; not to mention all the secure accounts I need to access question the IP address and what not requiring the VPN to be turned off.
I can get a full website .jpg on Firefox. Whoopie! However, using a neat PDF extension, Print Friendly, I can save a webpage with useful information [and edit before saving] as a PDF, so toss the .jpg idea.
Read Aloud works fine in Firefox.
Back to whatever works best for the individual.
No reason I can think of to switch–or even take the time to fiddle with the non-issue.
Wow John, such selling points…
“best built-in PDF reader”
You’re implying somehow there is a functional difference between viewing pdfs in a read-only mode, between chrome, firefox, edge, and adobe acrobat?
“best speech reader too” you mean, best text to speech? Ok…
“Edge can save and entire website in JPG in one single click”
Because between ctrl+S for a html document, and snipping tool and print screen, you weren’t satisfied somehow? I can assure you most people are… I can’t even understand the use-case because saving as a jpg is terrible from an archival standpoint, and can only ever be supplementary to other backup methods.
“it has one of the best built-in VPN ever done”
Ah yes, paramount features that web browsers absolutely need to have in the first place. I also just love the idea of a “free” VPN.
Microsoft’s downright disgusting “pushing” of the edge browser on windows devices is truly shameful and should steer any person with a backbone away from the browser on a point of principle. People that turn a blind eye to such terrible practices are really part of the problem, “but muh features, muh convenience!!”
Sorry for the rant, but not sorry for the contents of the rant.
Won’t this make your PC show stuff in, say, Finnish?
would you remove Edge and Bing Search from Windows 11?
I have already.
I would have no problem removing Edge and Bing from Win 11 but since I have been using Linux Mint with Win 7 in a virtual box (that I use for legacy programs) I have no reason to be concerned. There’s probably a reason why some people use Win 11 but It’s not for me. I highly recommend that folks try Linux. There’s a distro out there that will serve your purposes and it’s satisfying when you find it.
Lol what’s funny is I have seem lots of comments elsewhere about Linux people finding Windows 11 more to their liking because of WSL2, their main reason? It just works, you don’t need to tinker with every little damn thing for weeks.
Linux folks need to band together and make one polished, feature rich product, instead of all these splinter factions, no other way you’re truly gonna displace windows.
Spoofing your location like this sounds like opening a pandoras box to me.
I don’t have 11 (yet) but nearly everything I read about it is bad.
Why can’t someone make a Linux fork that can fully support games made for windows?
Call it “GameOS” and have it focused on gaming with minimal, secure, internet connectivity. Just enough to online game, do email, and use a simple web browser.
If such an OS was created, it would rival M$ market share in just a few years.
https://store.steampowered.com/steamos
or
https://itsfoss.com/manjaro-gaming-linux/
Great news! Thanks a lot!
Don’t even bother. It will install back when you update Windows.
Why? Why using Firefox? Chrome? Brave? Vivaldi? …
Fonts and pictures look better then the others.
I’ve tried Opera/Chrome/Firefox/Edge
never had fonts or pics look worse or better on any of them… weird
Firefox references my operating system font, and sometimes displays certain things with it, which is a really nice touch.