How to set your favorite browser as default in Windows 11 preliminary build

After you activate a new device or perform a clean install of Windows 11, the browser you get to use by default is Microsoft Edge. It opens when you click on links and files of certain types, regardless of what other browsers are installed on your computer.

Microsoft Edge is a great browser for Windows users as it’s based on Google’s Chromium and offers a plethora of interesting functions and features. These include vertical tabs, collections, support for extensions, kids-friendly mode, password monitoring, as well as cross-platform capabilities. However, many users of Windows 11 are more used to working with Opera, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and other browsers.

If you don’t want to change your habits, you can appoint a different, your favorite browser as default. The only catch is that Microsoft has altered the process for changing the default browser. Now you have to specify every file type and that the newly appointed default browser should open.

This article is meant to demonstrate how to change the default browser. Let’s take Google Chrome as an example.

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to the Apps section.
  3. On the right, click on Default apps.
  4. Select the desired browser.
  5. Click on the option called .htm.
  6. Choose the option “Switch anyway”.
  7. Select Google Chrome.
  8. Hit OK.

Repeat steps 5-8 inclusive for the following types of files:

  • .html
  • HTTPS
  • .shtml
  • .xht
  • .webp
  • .pdf
  • FTP
  • .svg
  • Html

Optional. Set your preferred browser as the default one for each of the remaining file types. Once you finish these actions, your selected browser will become the default browser in Windows 11.

As you can see, changing the default browser in Windows 11 requires more steps than before. However, this is not yet the final version of the system; this process may be altered. For example, now when you open Microsoft Edge at the page edge://settings/defaultBrowser and click on the “Set as default” button, it becomes your default browser without any additional steps. If you do this in other browsers, the Default apps page opens on your screen. Thus, the steps described in this article may be just a temporary solution.