Startup Boost FAQ

[Julie_Deng]

EDIT: We have an updated version of this FAQ over on the support site now. Head over the Get help with startup boost page to review the latest information about startup boost, including how to submit feedback to offer suggestions and report issues. We are locking this thread, but we encourage you to post a new thread if you have any questions that are not answered on the new FAQ page.

Starting with Microsoft Edge Build 88, we are releasing a new feature called startup boost to improve the Microsoft Edge browser startup experience. To learn more about it, read the FAQ below.

Note: We are in the process of releasing this feature, so it may be a little while before you see it in your respective channel and build.

1. What is startup boost?
To improve Microsoft Edge startup speed, we have developed a feature called startup boost. Startup boost keeps the browser running in the background with minimal processes, so Microsoft Edge will start more quickly when launched.

2. What benefits do I get from startup boost?
Microsoft Edge will start more quickly when it is launched from the taskbar, desktop, or from hyperlinks embedded in other applications when you log on after device startup or the browser is closed.

3. What is the resource impact of startup boost?
Startup boost keeps the browser running in the background with minimal processes when the browser is closed, which has a limited impact on device resource usage. Startup boost does not add any additional resources when browser windows are already open.

4. How does startup boost work?
Startup boost starts core Microsoft Edge processes in the background to keep them ready when the browser is closed, so Microsoft Edge will start more quickly when launched.

5. How do I know if startup boost is running?
You can check if the feature is on in the browser Settings under edge://settings/system.

6. Is startup boost available on all platforms?
Currently, startup boost is only available on devices with most versions of Windows.

7. What are the heuristics for startup boost to be enabled by default?
Startup boost is available on Windows devices (excluding Windows 10X and servers) with more than 4GB of RAM, or more than 1GB of RAM if the device has a modern disk (modern HDD with Trim and SeekPenalty or SSD), when Microsoft Edge is the default web browser with no extensions installed. These criteria were informed by experimentation data.

If startup boost is not enabled on your device, you can choose to manually enable it in the browser Settings under edge://settings/system.

8. What startup boost group policies will enterprises get?
We have a group policy that allows administrators and users to enable or disable startup boost.

These can be both mandatory or recommended group policies. If it is a recommended group policy, IT admins will have the ability to set the default behavior that their users can change later, if they wish.

9. Why do others see the feature, but I do not?
We are in the process of deploying this feature, so it may be a little while before you see it in your respective channel and build.

10. Can I turn off startup boost?
Yes, startup boost can be toggled on and off by going to edge://settings/system.

11. I can no longer debug in Edge using Visual Studio. How can I fix this?
We are sorry to see you ran into this issue! This is a startup boost bug that our team has resolved but you may not get the update for some time. In the meantime you can either:

• Restart your device -> Start debugging in Visual Studio -> Then turn off startup boost by going to edge://settings/system in the browser window opened by Visual Studio Debugger.
• Temporarily download and run Edge Canary channel while debugging since this channel has the fix.

12. How do I send feedback?
We are eager to get your feedback on startup boost. If you experience an issue, please let us know through Microsoft Edge by pressing Shift+Alt+I on a Windows device, click on the feedback icon in the upper right corner of the address bar, or going to Settings and more … > Help and feedback > Send feedback.

You can also discuss your experience here on the Microsoft Edge Insider forums and Twitter.

- The Microsoft Edge Product Team

[#2]

@Julie_Deng I just did a fresh install of Windows 10 20H2 and I think this is what I'm seeing -- about 6 msedge.exe processes stay alive in the background and don't go away, after I close all browser tabs.

I do have Edge version 88.

But I don't see any setting in edge://settings/system to turn this feature off?

Also I regularly get the popup prompt to "Restore previous tabs" whenever I start the browser .. even when I know I closed everything beforehand.

Any tips for investigating this further?

[#3]

@Dennis5mile I agree .. even from cold boot, browser startup takes no significant time at all.  Certainly a negligible amount of time compared to the network roundtrips to fetch even a simple web site.

Maybe it's a different story for older slower systems without SSD drives?  But then, on those systems, do they really have RAM to spare to hold half dozen msedge.exe processes alive?

And if those processes get paged out to disk (swapfile) will they really resume any faster than a freshly started process?

I am skeptical .. imho this needs to be measured, on real world customer systems, not in a test lab -- and across both older/slower and newer/faster configurations.   And if it's only saving a few milliseconds of startup time, it's not worth the added complexity and trouble.

[#4]

on real world, I've been testing this for a couple of months, it is useful and I see significant speed boost when I try to launch Edge.
I'm using SSD on M.2 port, one of the fastest, with startup boost, Edge launches instantly, without it, Edge takes a little more time.

so far I'm not talking about after restarting your computer, just when you normally close Edge and then reopen it, immediately or some time later.

that being said, it's also useful after Windows login, Edge launches faster since its components start loading as soon as possible.

you can disable startup boost, only for when Windows boots up, by disabling Microsoft Edge in startup section of task manager.

Startup boost in Edge is useful in more areas other than when you start your computer. the main advantage is when you close Edge and reopen it immediately or some time later.

[#5]

@ShawnVN 

Spoiler

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@ShawnVN wrote:

@Julie_Deng I just did a fresh install of Windows 10 20H2 and I think this is what I'm seeing -- about 6 msedge.exe processes stay alive in the background and don't go away, after I close all browser tabs.

I do have Edge version 88.

But I don't see any setting in edge://settings/system to turn this feature off?

Also I regularly get the popup prompt to "Restore previous tabs" whenever I start the browser .. even when I know I closed everything beforehand.

Any tips for investigating this further?

---

you can try disabling "continue running...." but at your own RISK.

it might cause problems for you, for you sync data, extension data, extension sync data etc.

don't worry about some Edge processes in task manager, they are normal, normal behavior of Chromium engine. 

[#6]

@HotCakeX I do see Edge listed in TaskMgr startup list .. but I don't have any setting re startup boost in edge://settings/system

Hopefully the screenshot I pasted is visible..

I suspect something is horked with my install, but no idea what.  It's a 2-week old clean install .. nothing but Office and Visual Studio installed.  :shrug:

If there area any registry keys or anything else I should look at, which control the visibility of features in edge://settings, I'm keen to learn.

[#7]

Startup boost is not fully rolled out in stable channel.
in task manager, there are 2 things related to Edge, one of them is updater or Edge update, which should stay active and not disabled.
that's what you must be seeing.

if you want to try start up boost you can use a higher version in insider channels

[#8]

@HotCakeX I don't necessarily want to try Startup Boost .. I just want my system to not be buggy.

I'm a former Chrome user but was giving the new Edge a try before installing Chrome on my new rig..  given my system is such a recent, clean install, I was expecting this was some sort of known issue -- but I guess not.

So far it doesn't seem to be causing any real problem, and there are some little things I like about Edge vs Chrome.  So I'll wait to see if this fixes itself .. if not I'll probably do another clean reinstall when 21H1 is available.

[#9]

I wasn't talking about chrome.
there lots of browsers better than chrome, if something is popular doesn't mean it's the best.

what do you mean your Edge is buggy? also you posted in startup boost topic that's why I thought it's related to this feature,
you can open up a new topic in the forum about your problem and others try to help.

[#10]

Update: Some wonderfully nice and smart folks at MS reached out to me.. apparently there was a small bug preventing the Startup Boost setting from appearing -- it's all squared away now. Now I have the checkbox in edge://settings/system, and it behaves fully as expected. (What amazingly quick turnaround time! This is not the same MS I remember from 10 years ago.) Keep up the great work, MS!

[#11]

I WILL TRY THIS FEATURE IN ORDER TO DISABLE THE NEW MANDATORY SIGN IN FEATURE FOR MICROSOFT EDGE!!!!!

[#12]

@JAMESPCOLLINS39 

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@JAMESPCOLLINS39 wrote:

I WILL TRY THIS FEATURE IN ORDER TO DISABLE THE NEW MANDATORY SIGN IN FEATURE FOR MICROSOFT EDGE!!!!!

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what mandatory sign in feature?

[#13]

This seems like a great idea! But I feel like the use case for it is a relatively narrow band of users. On my main workstation, the change is imperceptible, because it already loads so fast. I wouldn't use this on my tablet, since it is so limited by RAM already (4gb).

Maybe laptops are the sweet spot for impactful benefit for 'Startup Boost', where low TDP requirements puts everything in a low power state, but hardware is otherwise abundant and capable enough. 

My guess is that 90% of machines are either so limited as to need minimal background resources, or powerful enough that the browser opens in a split second anyway. Even on my workstation, I prefer to keep background threads to a minimum to maximize system efficiency and minimize overhead and energy costs.

I know this one system would be a negligible impact, but the amount of programs that want several processes to run in the background can easily add thousands of open threads and GBs of allocated memory. 

@Julie_Deng 

[#14]

@Julie_Deng 

Just to verify- Startup Boost is only enabled if Edge is set to the default browser, correct? (I apologize if this was already stated somewhere, I looked around but I have a knack for missing blindingly obviously info in front of me.)

[#15]

You can change the startup boost behavior

Go to egde settings -> system -> enable or disable startup boost

[#16]

@Julie_Deng Bei mir starten für dieses Feature 8(!) Prozesse im Hintergrund. Das wird Fragen bei den Usern aufkommen lassen, ob das normal sei. Warum sind das so viele Hintergrundprozesse?

[#17]

They explain it here: https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2020/09/30/microsoft-edge-multi-process-architecture/

[#18]

Yes, that's the missing link!   Thx!

[#19]

@Julie_Deng Thanks for adding this feature. However, it's not for me. I started having issues with my gaming system lagging and CPU fan running at higher speeds. Online gaming was a PITA due to excessive lagging. Tried everything to find the culprit and it turned out to be the CPU processes running higher than normal. Found multiple instances of Edge running in the background and when I turned off Startup Boost, everything returned to normal. I haven't noticed any difference in performance when this feature was enabled/disabled. Only that it took an impact on my CPU which caused my games to lag horribly. It may very well work for others but, I have to disable it for now.

[#20]

I just had to disable this on all my Windows 10 PCs as it was causing Edge to immediately restart every time it was closed. I am guessing this is not the expected behaviour. I have noticed no real difference in startup time.. not sure why I would need this and prefer to not have things running that don't need to be.

[#21]

You can send feedback (Alt + Shift + i) to them
This is not the expected behavior
This feature is noticeable when it is functioning normally