Credit: Microsoft
The end of Microsoft’s outdated Edge browser is fast approaching. Microsoft this week provided more details on exactly how it plans to remove the old Edge from Windows.
In August 2020, Microsoft officials said that after March 9, 2021, they will not offer any security updates for the legendary Edge desktop. (It’s March Patch Tuesday.) Today, February 5, Microsoft added additional information on what’s going to happen next.
Microsoft plans to remove the old-fashioned Edge and replace it with the new Chromium-based Edge when users apply the April Windows 10 Patch Tuesday version on April 13, 2021.
Microsoft officials provided this information in a post about Edge Kiosk Mode, and I would have missed it completely without Neowin.net calling it. Microsoft’s blog post advised kiosk mode customers to install the new Microsoft Edge and set up kiosk mode before applying the April 10 Windows 10 patches. Those who do not do so will experience a disruption in kiosk mode. They noted that some of the kiosk mode features in Edge Legacy will not be available in the new Edge, but said that ‘most’ use cases will be available from Edge 90 and that Edge 91 should be there.
update: Microsoft also has another blog post published today, February 5th, about the outdated Edge browser. The message notes that if the new Edge is already installed, the April update will not reinstall the new Edge, and will only remove the previous Edge. The versions of Windows 10 to which it applies are Windows 10 versions 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909, 2004 and 20H2.
While Microsoft made the new Edge part of Windows 10 from Windows 10 version 20H2, the old-fashioned Edge (but is hidden) remains on Windows 10 computers. As of April Patch Tuesday, the oldest Edge browsers will finally be removed from Windows 10.