Brave 1.30 introduces a new option for devices running Windows 10 or Windows 11, which allows the browser to become the default browser for Microsoft Edge's internal protocol. Searches and internal pages that Microsoft designed using the protocol, microsoft-edge://, will open in Brave if configured correctly.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 users who make a third-party web browser the default system browser, meaning any browser that is not Microsoft Edge, may notice that some requests are still loaded in Edge. Web search results of the Start menu are a prime example; others include help file and support links, or when uninstalled programs spawn a web page.
Third-party programs like
Edge Deflector or
BrokenURL were developed to bypass the limitation. These programs register as the default protocol handler for the Microsoft Edge protocol and redirect requests to another browser. Browsers have not used the method up until now to hijack the Edge protocol requests so that they are opened in the browser and not in Edge.
Brave 1.30 changes that. The developers analyzed the Microsoft-Edge protocol and how it is set, and implemented an option in the new version of Brave that gives users the option to make Brave the true default browser on the Windows device.
