Can’t get Edge to open with specified pages

Topic

New Reply

Microsoft seems to have designed Edge to periodically do away with some of my settings when Edge is updated. I mention this for what it’s worth, because I don’t know for a fact that Edge was recently updated. But I do know that my settings for starting up Edge have been altered, and I can’t get them back.

I have Win 10 Pro Version 21H1, and Edge Version 1.3.153.53.

In the Edge settings, under Start, home and new tabs, I have selected “Open these pages,” and added several pages that I want to load every time Edge launches. As of maybe a couple days ago, Edge launches with only the new tab page showing, even though the settings still have “Open these pages” selected.

I’ve tried clearing the list, exiting Edge, and then going back and re-creating it. I’ve also unselected that option, exited Edge, and then gone back and selected it again. But I just can’t get the “Open these pages” setting to work anymore.

When I click on settings in Edge, at the top of the page there’s a statement that “Your browser is managed by your organization,” which I’ve gathered over my time using Win 10 is Microsoft’s stupid & misleading way of saying that some settings are dealt with in the Group Policy Editor. As relevant here I don’t know what those would be. I made some changes in the gpe when I first set up this computer almost 2 years ago, but I don’t recall anything related to Edge, and I haven’t fiddled with any settings there or in Edge for months and months, so I have so assume that whatever is causing the current problem isn’t due to my going where no man should go.

Any suggestion on how to fix this problem?

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Replies

BobStr wrote:

Edge Version 1.3.153.53.

The latest Edge version is 96.0.1054.34.

As relevant here I don’t know what those would be

Under the notice in Windows Update there is a link to display all GP setting made by you.

I don’t recall anything related to Edge

You probably did (my PC is also “managed” but I don’t have “managed browser” in Edge settings.

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

The About link in my installation of Edge says version 96.0.1054.34, so it is current.

Although it’s not really important, for what I was referring to, see attachments 1 and 2. Number 1 shows the link to the edge://policy page (whatever that is), which I clicked on before I posted. Number 2 is the policy page itself, which says “Microsoft Edge Update Version 1.3.153.53”. So something related to Edge updates has that version number, even though it’s not Edge itself. I used that one because my message specifically mentioned that I didn’t know how recently Edge had been updated, and if an update was the cause, then I figured it might be worthwhile mentioning the version my computer specifically gave me re updating. Given Bob99’s explanation of what it actually refers to, I guess it’s not relevant, but there you go.

Re the gpe settings, see attachment 3, which is the page listing my gp settings. Only 4 are listed: the first two are re automatic updating, which, as I recall, were options I selected when I first set up the computer well over a year ago. The other two relate to what feature updates are allowed. I set those quite some time ago, before the problem with the start-up pages arose, and I don’t see what they could possibly have to do with the start-up-pages problem in any case. So I have to assume that my gp settings aren’t the cause of whatever is going on now.

So if anyone has an idea regarding the cause of my current travail and its possible solution, I’d still appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

[Bob99]

…Edge Version 1.3.153.53

That is actually the version number for the Edge Update program. If you go back to the Settings>Apps and scroll down the list under “Apps & features”, you’ll first see a listing for “Microsoft Edge” and the very next listing should be for “Microsoft Edge Update”. If you click on the “Microsoft Edge” listing (the one that doesn’t include the word “Update”), you’ll see the actual version number of your current installation of Edge and it will probably be very close to (or identical to) that version number quoted by Alex above.

…I don’t know for a fact that Edge was recently updated.

Edge gets updated by its own mechanism in the background, so you may never see it actually being updated. This updater operates independently of Windows Update/Microsoft Update. However, it will respect the “Metered connections” setting if you have it set to avoid unwanted updates as some folks do.

As far as it losing your startup settings for which pages you want opened when it starts, that was a frequent problem a few months ago, but was solved by Microsoft through one of their update methods. Problem is I don’t currently recall exactly how they solved it, be it through their Known Issue Rollback feature or through a regular update to the Edge mechanism itself pushed out via its built-in update mechanism.    Any help in this department would be greatly appreciated!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Bob99.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Bob99. Reason: Added info about metered connections setting

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the explanation.

Reply | Quote

You’re Very Welcome!

If you don’t have the version of Edge mentioned above in Alex’s post and you need help getting there, drop a line right here and we’ll show you how to manually use the built-in updater to get to that version. 

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

I do have that version.

But thanks for the offer.

Reply | Quote

Have you tried clearing your internet cache and restarting the browser?

--Joe

Reply | Quote

joep517 wrote:

Have you tried clearing your internet cache and restarting the browser?

Once again this site asked me if I was a robot, took it’s time with me, and then said it was posting me as anonymous, so again apologies if this duplicates something that’s already to be posted.

Anyway, I did clear the cache, but it didn’t help.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Reply | Quote

joep517 wrote:

Have you tried clearing your internet cache and restarting the browser?

Thanks for the suggestion, but I did that.

FWIW, when I did so, on re-start Edge essentially stalled for about a minute, and the browser window was completely blank — i.e., white. Don’t know if that means anything. In any case, I walked away for a few minutes, and when I came back, the normal New tab was there — weather in the upper left, a gear icon for the page layout in the upper right, and a search box in the middle, with “Microsoft” in big letters above it. But that was it: re-starting after that doesn’t stall, but it still produces just the new tab, and not the designated pages.

Reply | Quote

I also had exactly the same issue with Edge 96.0.1054.34 on Windows 10 Pro 21H1. Initially I put this down to a power outage while Edge was open during the start of Storm Arwen on the east side of Scotland. I thought that somehow it may have got corrupted. Modifying/repair of Edge did not work nor did a reset. After an hour of trying to fix it with Edge ignoring all my settings, in sheer frustration I did a forced uninstall of Edge using Revo Uninstaller and reinstalled a fresh download of Edge. This fixed the issue and then I had to reinstall a few extensions but all is well again.

2 users thanked author for this post.

BobStr, wavy

Reply | Quote

BobStr wrote:

When I click on settings in Edge, at the top of the page there’s a statement that “Your browser is managed by your organization,” which I’ve gathered over my time using Win 10 is Microsoft’s stupid & misleading way of saying that some settings are dealt with in the Group Policy Editor. As relevant here I don’t know what those would be. I made some changes in the gpe when I first set up this computer almost 2 years ago, but I don’t recall anything related to Edge, and I haven’t fiddled with any settings there or in Edge for months and months, so I have so assume that whatever is causing the current problem isn’t due to my going where no man should go.

Any suggestion on how to fix this problem?

See Remove Managed by your organization from Microsoft Edge

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

The problem I was referring to in the last sentence you quoted related to the overall subject of my initial post — the fact that my designated start pages don’t load when I launch Edge. I don’t consider the “managed by your organization” message an actual problem — I just consider the wording a stupidity (it’s beyond me why MS considers it useful to tell home users that a mysterious “organization” controls their computers). I mentioned the “managed by” message only because, while I knew that in the relatively distant past I had made changes in the GPE, I didn’t know whether that was necessarily all there was to it as far as the message was concerned. Since I do want to retain the changes that I’ve made to the GPE, I don’t want to undo them just to get rid of a stupid message.

But that said, I do appreciate your providing that link. It’s always good to be armed with more complete information. Thanks.

 

Reply | Quote

I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I’ll keep uninstalling/reinstalling in mind if I never get a simpler solution. Though since I use Edge only for those several designated start pages (because they don’t load well in Firefox for whatever reason), I’ll probably just stick with things the way they are.

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Further to my first reply #post-2403740, to my dismay this morning the issue re-occurred and Edge had taken over my original settings again.  I also had the return of  the “Your browser is managed by your organisation” imposed on the settings page despite me being the “organisation”.  Long story short, but I have now fixed this by going to O&O Shutup on my PC, reverting back all the changes it made and not using the software again. I prefer Privatezilla anyway. It appears that O&O Shutup was affecting the policies for Edge after the update to version 96.0.1054.34. I now have full control over Edge and all my settings have been accepted at long last.  The Winaero fix mentioned in /#post-2403807 did not work for me which got me thinking about O&O Shutup.

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

I also use O&O Shutup10, so just now I tried undoing its changes and then rebooted, but it didn’t fix anything, so I’m guessing that that’s not the source of the Edge startup problem on my machine.

I’m not sure that I follow what your saying about that app possibly changing “policies” relating to Edge. Are you using that word in the generic sense, or to specifically refer to changes that can be made in the GPE? If the latter, shouldn’t any such changes be traceable to and correctable by looking through the GPE (maybe a tedious prospect, but doable, I’d imagine)?

In any case, would you mind commenting a little on why you prefer Privatezilla to O&O? I’m always in the market to improve upon what I already have (if it’s not too much trouble to do so).

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Yes, I am using that word in the generic sense (I am not a techie). Like you, I am on W10 Pro so I had a look at Edge within Group Policy and tried a few policy settings relevant to what I thought was related to the issue, but nothing worked for me on a trial and error basis. In the end I did not set any policy settings for Edge. I had no problems with O&O Shutup previously until the update of Edge to v. 96.0.1054.34 a few days ago. After today’s experience with O&O Shutup and to avoid (hopefully) a repeat performance with Edge, I reverted back to Privatezilla only on a personal opinion that I don’t think it is as ‘aggressive’ (for want of a better description) in its approach as O&O Shutup. In Privatezilla, I just have all the boxes enabled under ‘privacy’ and have not enabled anything else, and it has not affected Edge.

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

Since undoing the O&O changes didn’t affect Edge for me, I’ll stick with the app for now, since I haven’t stumbled upon any indications that it’s too aggressive (again, for me). But I’ll keep your comments in mind, in case I ever see the need to switch to another app.

Thanks for the explanation.

1 user thanked author for this post.

dgc-art

Reply | Quote

Sorry to hear that you remain with the issue.

Reply | Quote

@BobStr and @dgc-art-

I don’t use O&O but I do use another program that puts entries in the registry key mentioned in the article in @b ‘s post above, #2403807.

I ran the program I use and told it to remove all protection it had enabled for Edge, and it did so after mildly griping to me about it with a warning. I then went into the registry to the very location mentioned in the article, and the entries in that key were gone, along with the sub-keys that had been created, leaving only a blank key labeled “Edge”. I got out of the registry, and started Edge. Once in Edge, I went right to the settings menu and saw that the notice(s) about the browser being managed by my organization were gone, and I now had full control over all of the previously locked parts of the settings pages.

After seeing those results, I promptly closed Edge and re-enabled the protections from my other program that puts registry entries in the aforementioned location, and started Edge again to verify that it was once again “managed by my organization”.

With Edge being “managed…”, I can still change my startup settings to what I’d like and Edge seems to remember them with my current version of 96.0.1054.34. This leads me to believe that there may be a snafu that has surfaced on your machines due to your use of O&O, the problem is, just where’s the rub??? Which setting where doesn’t Edge like any more that’s causing it to not remember your startup settings after an update??

All I can think of to eliminate O&O as definitely being the culprit is to disable whatever settings are in your registry at the specified key and seeing what happens the next time Edge gets updated. There are a couple of issues with doing so, however. The first is that it may take a week or a bit longer for another update for Edge to be released and one or more of those settings in that key might be providing you with protection from one or more nasties from crapware that’s out there these days. The other issue is that when O&O looks at the registry key and sees the entries missing, it might automatically put them back, nullifying what you’re trying to do. @BobStr , this (O&O automatically changing settings back) may have already happened for you from the sounds of your post 2403881 just above from an hour and a half ago. Therefore, I view this as an iffy solution at best.

My hope is that one of the folks here on AskWoody who is very well-versed with O&O will see this thread and offer a better solution to your issues.

I’m also hoping for one of the folks with a good ear towards MS’s doings can drop by to tell everyone how the issue of Edge not remembering startup settings and setting them to MS’s preferred settings was fixed earlier this year.

@b , @EP , @joep517 , @abbodi86 : Do any of you remember just how MS fixed the issue earlier this year? If so, what to these good folks need to do to replicate it and get back their settings for good from MS’s preferences?

2 users thanked author for this post.

BobStr, dgc-art

Reply | Quote

Hey folks. I’ve had several users complaining that the recent Edge update (to 96.0.1054.34) broke their “When Edge starts” setting to “Open these pages”…
and no, O&O is not used in this environment.

I’ve suggested to these unhappy users that _hopefully_ this problem will be fixed shortly (no need to assume this breakage is intentional; incompetence happens… it’s certainly happened before).

Hope this helps.

Reply | Quote

no need to assume this breakage is intentional; incompetence happens…

Same anon here.

MS has now updated Edge again (to 96.0.1054.41), but my unhappy users are still complaining that Edge is still ignoring their “When Edge starts” setting to “Open these pages”, and instead forcing open a Microsoft “new tab” page…
so apparently MS really really wants to hit that page – maybe to set a start-up cookie? – and is willing to ignore user preferences to make it happen.

As the adage goes, “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”. I was really hoping for stupidity/incompetence, but…
malice it is!

Reply | Quote

MS has updated Edge again (to 96.0.1054.43), but problem is still not fixed – Edge is still ignoring “When Edge starts” browser setting to “Open these pages”, and instead forcing open a Microsoft “new tab” page…

Bad Microsoft! Bad! VERY BAD!

Reply | Quote

MS has updated Edge again (to 96.0.1054.53), but problem is still not fixed – Edge is still ignoring “When Edge starts” browser setting to “Open these pages”, and instead forcing open a Microsoft “new tab” page for some users…

C’mon Microsoft, you’re better than this!

Hey, here’s an idea: maybe stop adding unnecessary bloat via silly features/”services” (e.g., suggestions from Pinterest, shopping and travel recommendations, “Buy Now Pay Later”… I mean, seriously, WTF?), and instead focus more dev attention on browser basics – like, maybe, start page functionality that functions properly for all Edge users/installations?

Reply | Quote

This has apparently been fixed in Insider channel (Canary/Dev/Beta) versions (Edge 97.0.1057.0 and higher), but version 97 won’t be released to the Stable channel until “Week of 06-Jan-2022”:

Microsoft Edge ‘Start, home and new tabs’ settings on Win 10 do not hold after recent updates, fix on the way (workaround)

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobStr

Reply | Quote

[Bob99]

There is another workaround, in addition to the one in the thread referenced by @b above.

According to the post marked “Answer” and with a green stripe across the top of the “Answer” post in this thread on the Microsoft Answers forum, there is another workaround aside from making a special shortcut on the desktop. Since I’ve now been afflicted by this “problem”, I tried the fix listed in the “Answer” post, and it worked! The post explains why the behavior can occur as well.

One change I had to make to effect the workaround is that I had a slightly different path to the file that needs to be modified than what’s listed in the post. My path was %userprofile%\appdata\local\microsoft\edge\user data\Profile 1\preferences) instead of …”\user data\default\preferences”.

Preferences is the name of the actual file to be modified, NOT a folder. In other words, the “preferences” file has no suffix of three letters after the dot, unlike what we’re used to seeing with file names. The name is simply “preferences” and that’s it.

As the post suggests, open the file with Notepad and then use its built-in search function for the string “exit_type” If it says “Crashed”, simply change that to “Normal” and then save the file. Make sure to do this with Edge closed to avoid problems.

I hope this helps those who don’t want to wait until January for an official fix in Edge version 97.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Bob99.

2 users thanked author for this post.

dgc-art, BobStr

Reply | Quote

For what it’s worth, as of this morning my startup pages are launching again.

I’ve no idea whether this is due to an update in Edge. I can see that my current version is 96.0.1054.62, whereas at the time I posted my original question it was 96.0.1054.34. But I have no idea what the version was yesterday, when the startup pages still weren’t launching automatically, so I don’t know if there was an update overnight.

In any case, either Microsoft fixed the problem or randomness came to the rescue.

Reply | Quote

BobStr wrote:
For what it’s worth, as of this morning my startup pages are launching again.

Yes, confirmed – the most recent Edge update (to 96.0.1054.62) appears to have fixed the start page regression here too.

Hope this helps.

Reply | Quote