New Microsoft Edge Version 98 GPO "Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion Enabled" not working to disable

[ChevITGuy]

While testing Microsoft Edge Stable 98.0.1108.55 with the appropriate ADMX/ADML packages active, I am unable to DISABLE the Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion subpanel on the About Microsoft Edge settings panel.  We would like to have this subpanel hidden before we deploy Edge Version 98.0.1108.55 to our general user population.  This GPO generates the MicrosoftEdgeInsiderPromotionEnabled REG DWORD value with disabled setting of 0x00000000 as plainly displayed in a Regedit session in Key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge or HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

This setting was applied in both a Windows 10 Pro x86 PC and Windows 10 Enterprise x64 (Domain controlled VDI session) without success.  The Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion subpanel still is always displayed.  I was unable to test in a Windows Server 2016 Domain-controlled terminal server system yet.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Chev IT Guy

[#2]

An update to Version 98.0.1108.56 this morning has NOT resolved the issue.  The Promotion for Microsoft Edge Insider is still showing on the "About Microsoft Edge" panel.  While few if any of our company users actually look at the "About Microsoft Edge" settings panel, we would like to suppress this promotion as it is offered in the GPO setting, if anything just to successfully use the GPO now.

ChevITGuy 

[#3]

I could see the same situation. The "Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion Enabled" policy has no effect.

[#4]

@ChevITGuy Hey there! Apologies on the late response here, but I wanted to hop in and let you know that the team is investigating this now. As a callout, I do want to note that Edge 99 is moving into our Stable channel this week, so I would appreciate it if you let me know how things look once you receive the update. I can give the team your updated status at that point so they understand if they still need to dig into this.

Thanks for flagging the issue! I will circle back once I hear from the team on next steps for us. 🙂

Missy Quarry (she/they)
Community Manager - Microsoft Edge
Join us on Twitter, or over on Reddit in r/MicrosoftEdge or r/edge

[#5]

@MissyQ 

Thanks so much for acknowledging this work by me and others.  I look forward to testing this GPO in Microsoft Edge Version 99.

All the Best!

ChevITGuy

[#6]

Hey there. Same situation with Edge 99 (Stable).

[#7]

Martin, I agree! I installed Version 99.0.1150.30 yesterday Monday 03-07-2022 after reviewing the new Version 99 GPO's and applying the ADMX/ADML files to the Policy Definitions. The GPO to suppress the Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion was not working as expected. The promotion subpanel was still present after the GPO supposedly disabled it. I have not yet tried Version 99.0.1150.36 which is available today 03-08-2022. Its release notes do not specifically mention anything about this GPO issue.

ChevITGuy

[#8]

I am PLEASED TO REPORT that in Version 99.0.1150.36 the Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion GPO control DOES WORK AS EXPECTED. I was able to update Microsoft Edge from Version 99-0-1150-30 to Version 99-0-1150-36 and observed that the Promotion Subpanel was GONE. I decided to restart the Windows 10 Pro x86 Feature 21H2 system and continued to observe that the Promotion Subpanel was indeed gone. I then performed a "gpedit" Administrator command and ENABLED the Promotion Subpanel and observed it is present when I started the browser. I then set the GPO setting to DISABLE and restarted the browser and noted that the Promotion Subpanel was GONE. I then enabled the GPO and observed the subpanel as present and set the GPO to "Not configured" and observed that the subpanel remained but the Registry Value was removed as expected. I then set the GPO to DISABLE and restarted the browser and observed that the Promotion Subpanel was DISABLED and the appropriate Registry Value was present with a REG_DWORD value of 0x00000000. Testing is completed on a Windows 32-bit system. I will repeat the test on an x64 system shortly.

ChevITGuy

[#9]

I am PLEASED to REPORT that the x64 testing was SUCCESSFUL and the GPO now works and has been tested in the Windows 10 Pro X86 and X64 Feature 21H2 environment on Version 99.0.1150.36 level.

THANKS to all that participated and verified our findings. Please at some point install Version 99.0.1150.36 and see if the display of the Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion Subpanel is properly controlled by this GPO in your environment.

ChevITGuy