Hi MDL community, I have a challenge regarding MS Edge's "Recommended Settings" persistence. I’ve built an automation tool in C# that sets a custom search provider for users. While my tool can handle the UI during the setup phase, the real problem starts AFTER the tool has finished its job. Whenever Edge updates, it triggers the "Use recommended browser settings" dialog or silently reverts the default search engine back to Bing. Since these are standalone PCs in a non-AD environment (Home/Pro), I cannot rely on Group Policy Objects. I am looking for a way to "hard-lock" these settings so they survive Edge updates without my tool being present. Specifically: How can I suppress the "Recommended Settings" prompt that appears post-update via registry or file-level tweaks? Is there a way to prevent Edge from flagging a custom search provider as "corrupted" or "unexpectedly changed" in the Web Data or Preferences files? Are there any undocumented HKLM keys or specific tasks in Task Scheduler that I should disable to stop this "Bing enforcement"? I want to avoid using extensions if possible and achieve this purely through system-level configuration that sticks. Any insights into how Edge triggers these "resets" and how to neutralize them would be greatly appreciated!
Use this registry key Spoiler: Fake ad / mdm enrollement Code: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; # Fake MDM-Enrollment - Key 1 of 2 - let a Windows Machine "feel" MDM-Managed [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Enrollments\FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF] "EnrollmentState"=dword:00000001 "EnrollmentType"=dword:00000000 "IsFederated"=dword:00000000 ; # Fake MDM-Enrollment - Key 2 of 2 - let a Windows Machine "feel" MDM-Managed [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Provisioning\OMADM\Accounts\FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF] "Flags"=dword:00d6fb7f "AcctUId"="0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000" "RoamingCount"=dword:00000000 "SslClientCertReference"="MY;User;0000000000000000000000000000000000000000" "ProtoVer"="1.2" Copy code to notepad or others text editor save as mdm.reg and apply ( you need to have file extension visible ) This trick work on windows 10 / 11 not tested on windows 8.1 or olders os Mdm ? > simulate fake azure ad enrollement Requirement : windows pro minimal sku ( sorry for home sku not solution )
Thanks for the "Fake MDM" trick! However, a significant portion of my target environment is on Home SKU. I know Home edition lacks the official MDM stack, but is there any "dirty" workaround to make the Home edition honor these policies? Specifically, has anyone found a way to: Trigger the "Managed" state in Home SKU via other registry flags (like IsEnterpriseManaged or similar)? "Inject" the policy provider so Edge thinks it's managed even if the OS doesn't support MDM? Alternatively, is there a way to 'lock' the Web Data SQLite database so Edge can't revert the search provider after an update, without causing a 'Profile Corrupted' error?
Understood. Thank you for the clear answer and for saving me from a wild goose chase on the Home SKU! The Fake MDM trick is still a gold mine for my Pro users, so I really appreciate you sharing that. I'll have to look for some "dirtier" file-level hacks for the Home edition elsewhere. Thanks again for your expertise!