How to Stop Internet Explorer to Edge Redirect in Windows 10

If you don’t want Windows 10 to automatically redirect you from Internet Explorer to Edge browser when accessing incompatible websites, you can stop it. Here’s how you can do it.

Internet Explorer is old and no longer relevant in the modern browsing world. That is one of the reasons why Microsoft created a new browser called Edge and started phasing out the Internet Explorer little by little. In fact, unless you open Internet Explorer explicitly, Windows 10 no longer opens any webpage in the IE by default.

In general, a vast majority of users no longer use or need to use the Internet Explorer. However, there are still Windows users who use IE on a daily basis. This might because of habit or a work requirement. Since most modern websites are incompatible with IE, it can cause issues. To further reduce this, Microsoft started automatically redirecting users from Internet Explorer to Edge Chromium when they visit an incompatible website or webpage. For example, if you visit youtube.com in IE, you will be automatically redirected to the MS Edge browser. In fact, you will even see a popup message telling “This website works better on Microsoft Edge”.

If you don’t like this behavior and want to use Internet Explorer for whatever reason, you can do that. All you have to do is stop Windows from redirecting Internet Explorer to Edge.

In this quick and simple guide, let me show the steps to stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect in Windows 10.

Stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect

Windows 10 offers several different ways to stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect. I will show three different methods. Follow any one of the methods you are comfortable with.

1. Disable IE redirect setting in Edge browser

The new Edge Chromium browser has a special setting that makes Windows automatically redirect you from Internet Explorer to Edge. Disabling this setting will stop the automatic redirect. Here’s how.

1. Open the Edge browser.
2. Type “edge://settings/defaultbrowser” in the address bar and press Enter.
3. Select “Never” from the “Let Internet Explorer open sites in Microsoft Edge” dropdown menu.
4. Settings all saved automatically.
5. Restart the Edge browser.

2. Disable extensions in IE to stop redirect to Edge

Internet Explorer uses special a helper object to redirect from IE to Edge. By disabling the third-party extensions feature, you can stop this behavior.

1. Open the Run dialog box with the “Windows key + R” shortcut.
2. Type “inetcpl.cpl” and click “Ok.”
3. Go to the “Advanced” tab.
4. Uncheck the “Enable third-party browser extensions” option.
5. Click “Apply.”
6. Click “Ok” to save changes.

This should stop the Internet Explorer to Edge redirect. However, one downside is that if you are using extensions or custom helper objects they will stop working too. If the extensions/helper objects are a requirement for your work, follow the first method.

3. Edit registry to stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect

You can stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect by disabling the IEToEdge Browser Helper Object (BHO) from the registry editor. Here’s how.

1. Open the registry editor.
2. Paste the below path in the address bar and press Enter.
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ext\CLSID
3. On the right panel, double-click on the “{1FD49718-1D00-4B19-AF5F-070AF6D5D54C}” value.
4. Change the Value Data from “1” to “0”.
5. Click on the “Ok” button.
6. Close the registry editor.
7. Restart Windows 10.

That is all. It is that simple to stop Internet Explorer to Edge redirect in Windows 10.

I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

Also, did you know that you can uninstall Internet Explorer in Windows 10? Do check it out if you want to uninstall legacy software.