How to Change the Default Browser in Windows 11

Updating to Windows 11 resets all operating system’s settings to their defaults. This means that Windows 11 will open links and HTML files using Microsoft Edge, the default browser. However, you can choose another browser by default in Windows 11.

Fortunately, changing the default browser in Windows 11 is easy and only takes a few minutes to make the necessary changes. Let’s say you want to open all hyperlinks and open certain file types like PDF or HTML using a certain browser, you can do that. Read on to find out what you need to do to make your favorite browser the default app for web browsing.

Manually Setting the Default Browser

First, you must install the browser you want to set as default. If you have already installed the browser, you need to change the settings. This will help you choose a specific browser for file types. Choosing the manual method works if you want to open all hyperlinks in the browser of your choice and don’t want to bother with opening certain file types.

Stage 1: Open the Settings menu by opening the start menu, type Settings enter it in the search field and press Enter to open.

Step 2: When the Settings app opens, select the Apps section and click on Default Apps.

Stage 3: Search for the browser and click it. Windows will take you to the menu listing all the file extensions you can use to open with the default browser.

Step 4: Select each of the file extensions that normally open with Edge and adjust it to your preferred browser. This will make all web related extensions open with the new browser.

Make sure you set your browser preference for extensions like HTML, HTM, HTTP, and HTTPS. When you change its defaults, Windows 11 opens all links in documents and applications using the browser of your choice. This includes HTML files you have saved on your computer.

Other than that, some browsers support opening certain file types natively. For starters, Microsoft Edge has a built-in PDF reader. If you’re not sure your preferred browser can open PDFs, leave the extension untouched. This means that the Edge browser will open all PDF documents by default and let you edit them to some extent.

Note that this will not set the new browser as the default browser for each section. Unfortunately, Microsoft has locked down the widgets section and set the links there to always open in Edge.

Automatically Setting the Default Browser

If you prefer not to change any of the extensions, you can also change the default settings using a built-in feature found in most modern browsers. This also means that you will automatically open links and certain browser-friendly file types.

For example, if you are using Chrome, here are the steps to follow:

Stage 1: Open Google Chrome and click the menu (three vertical dots) in the upper right corner of the screen.

Step 2: Click on Settings.

Stage 3: Select Default browser from the list on the right of the screen.

Step 4: Press the Set default button from the default browser section.

This will change all file extension defaults so they will open using Google Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge.

The process for setting a browser as default email is pretty similar in Edge and Firefox. You will either continue to receive the prompt to set this as default or you will have to select the particular browser as default from the browser settings.

Not All Settings Can Be Changed

If you follow the methods above, you will change the settings so that the computer uses your preferred browser every time you open a link or desktop shortcut to a website. However, some settings cannot be changed, such as the Widgets and News sections.

Microsoft has set them to always open links using the Edge browser. We don’t know if Microsoft will allow third-party browsers to change these settings in the future.

However, it supports all popular web browsers including Microsoft Windows, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Brave. Take back control of your internet browsing experience by following the steps above.