How to hide the First Run Experience in the new Microsoft Edge?
One of the most frequent Enterprise asks around the new First Run Experience has been for a way to hide the new First Run Experience.
It could be that you do not want your users to change these configurations which you are already managing via other policies. Or perhaps you want your users to get immediately productive without fiddling with any configurations.
Whatever the reason, we’ve got you covered!
We have been working hard on your feedback, and starting with Microsoft Edge 80 (Stable) you can now use the new browser policy HideFirstRunExperience to do just that!
This new policy is a frictionless way for the users of your managed devices to go directly to the browser startup page without seeing any configuration or welcome message at first run. When this policy is enabled, all the configurations which are currently shown in the first run experience will be set to sane defaults.
- Existing user data from the edgeHTML-based Microsoft Edge Legacy version will still be migrated over to the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge. However, the user data from no other browser will be imported automatically.
- In the New Tab Page, the feed type will be set to use MSN News alongwith the Inspirational layout.
- The user will still be automatically signed into Microsoft Edge, if the Windows account is of AAD or MSA type.
- Sync of browser data will not be enabled by default and users will be able to turn on sync from the sync settings.
You can still manage all the various core configurations currently shown in the first run experience, using existing browser policies which can work in combination with the HideFirstRunExperience policy. Some of these are:
- AutoImportAtFirstRun - Automatically import another browser's data and settings at first run
- NewTabPageLocation - Configure the new tab page URL
- NewTabPageSetFeedType - Configure the Microsoft Edge new tab page experience
- SyncDisabled - Disable synchronization of data using Microsoft sync services
- BrowserSignin - Specify whether a user can sign into Microsoft Edge with their account and use account-related services like sync and single sign on.
- NonRemovableProfileEnabled - Configure whether a user always has a default profile automatically signed in with their work or school account
If you disable or don't configure this policy, the First-run experience and the Welcome screen will be shown.