How to reinstall Microsoft Edge after removing every trace of it in the system?

Question

One day I was angry with Microsoft Edge and I deleted its subfolders under C:\Windows\SystemApps, C:\Windows\WinSxS and %AppData% by using FastFind (which is an application for fast search on Windows). Therefore, there is no trace of it on my system.
Even PowerShell cannot reinstall it. (I checked all the methods I could find on Microsoft's website and Windows 10 forums.)

Can I download and reinstall Edge without resetting Windows?
Notice that even Windows Update cannot recover it.

Edit:
If I transfer the files from another computer, does it work? Which folders need to be copied?

"even powershell cannot reinstall it"? Do you mean you used Get-AppXPackage to download the Edge package and it failed? Do you have working Internet and a Microsoft account on this system with access to the store? Have you made a new admin account and tried it there? If these things failed, a repair or reinstall from the install media is likely the only the fix. — acejavelin, Sep 15 '18 at 14:24
I heard from someone that downloading two folders and creating a shortcut will fix the problem but I can't access him. — Pvria Ansari, Sep 15 '18 at 14:31
Get-AppXPackage doesn't work but if it connects to internet maybe there is a link to download the entire missing folders. — Pvria Ansari, Sep 15 '18 at 14:32
I'm not certain if you can fix your system as is. If you want a system without Edge, I think Windows LTSB shipped without it, but it's a hassle to acquire it. If you want a system with Edge, you probably need to reinstall Windows. — MountainMan, Sep 15 '18 at 15:02
I am also indeed unsure about this but because I did not deleted the registery keys I have hope. — Pvria Ansari, Sep 15 '18 at 15:04
thanks for your efforts but I need to re-install it for my job — Pvria Ansari, Sep 17 '18 at 11:09
And I don't think french people know english better than me MR.SIMLEV — Pvria Ansari, Sep 17 '18 at 11:11
I ask the moderator to delete this question because it is also in this link unanswered — Pvria Ansari, Sep 17 '18 at 11:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 15 '18 at 18:36

0

There is no way for us to know what exactly you have deleted.

It's only clear that you have deleted some parts of Windows that should never have been deleted.

To return your system to a standard running state, I suggest running an in-place upgrade of Windows, which will keep installed applications, drivers and almost all Windows settings.

See the article Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade.

Read the article carefully before starting.

answered Sep 15 '18 at 18:36

harrymc

480,290

1

You might not like the answer, but it is the safest solution, since Edge is a very important part of Windows. Destroying is much easier than rebuilding ... – harrymc Sep 15 '18 at 18:54
It is not the answer to this question! – Pvria Ansari Sep 17 '18 at 11:19
maybe if anyone explains Get-Appxpackage command I can find any link – Pvria Ansari Sep 17 '18 at 11:21
See How to Reinstall and Re-register Microsoft Edge in Windows 10. – harrymc Sep 17 '18 at 11:40
No, I know how to use it but I cannot get what it does – Pvria Ansari Sep 17 '18 at 11:46
Where does it connect to download apps? – Pvria Ansari Sep 17 '18 at 11:47
see this – Pvria Ansari Sep 17 '18 at 11:49
A repair would be much better than an upgrade. – TylerH Nov 09 '22 at 16:19
@TylerH: This post is from 5 years ago... – harrymc Nov 09 '22 at 16:53
@harrymc if you think your answer is no longer relevant, then you should delete it. – TylerH Nov 09 '22 at 16:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 16 '22 at 17:29

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 ¹

Can I download and reinstall Edge without resetting Windows?

– Yes. In one of my current web browsers, I visited https://microsoft.com/en-us/edge,
which is the home page of Microsoft Edge.

^{^ click to enlarge}

I clicked "DOWNLOAD EDGE", which linked me to :
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge?form=MA13FJ#evergreen,
where I clicked Download for Windows 10.

I chose English (US) as my language, and then clicked Accept and download.

I downloaded and double-clicked the file MicrosoftEdgeSetup.exe. The downloading and installing that followed, took less than two minutes. Microsoft Edge starts automatically.

As you can see, installing Microsoft Edge is like installing any other web browser.

If I transfer from another computer, which folders need to be copied?

You'll need to copy all folders under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\ whose name start with Edge. You should find the following four folders: Edge, EdgeCore, EdgeUpdate EdgeWebView. It won't matter if the folder EdgeWebView is missing, as it should automatically and silently be created soon after you've started running Edge on the target machine. ²

How I removed Microsoft Edge from Windows 10

I removed Microsoft Edge prior to installing it. I started out by uninstalling according to my own instructions on how it can be done. As I want to mimic your situation as much as possible, I opened the command line as administrator, and went to C:\Windows\SystemApps, C:\Windows\WinSxS and %AppData%. In each of those three directories, I ran dir *edge*, and then moved or deleted all subfolders that matched the search. ³

References

^{¹
When this question was asked in 2018, Windows 10 came with
EdgeHTML,
which Microsoft later renamed Edge Legacy.

I don't expect anyone to be interested in Edge Legacy these days, and
I therefore answer how to install the current Edge Chromium only.
²
If it doesn't, see
this rather detailed answer on how to install WebView2.
³
Press WinKey+r, type cmd, hold down
Ctrl+Shift, and press Enter
to open a command prompt as administrator.
Then cd C:\Windows\SystemApps and dir *edge*.
Do this also for C:\Windows\WinSxS and %AppData%.
Some of these files and folders are owned by Trusted Installer,
which makes it a bit complicated to delete or move them.
But it can be done.
All files and subfolders of those three directories belong to the old
EdgeHTML.

Hence, there is not really any need to remove them.

I wouldn't say I've removed every trace of Microsoft Edge from my
system, but I've mimicked what you say you did.}

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 09 '22 at 18:07

I'm assuming that your question is "How do I install some browser onto my computer, because I deleted my only one".

Using some PowerShell code from Timothy Warner, we can copy paste the command from there directly into PowerShell.

It might take a while, and there's probably a better answer, but if you're in a rush this is a way to fix it.

$Path = $env:TEMP; $Installer = 'chrome_installer.exe'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/375.126/chrome_installer.exe' -OutFile $Path\$Installer; Start-Process -FilePath $Path\$Installer -Args '/silent /install' -Verb RunAs -Wait; Remove-Item -Path $Path\$Installer

OP does say "even PowerShell" cannot fix it, so it might be worth getting info from OP on exactly what PS code they've tried before suggesting a PowerShell solution. — TylerH, Nov 09 '22 at 16:19

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge after removing every trace of it in the system?

3 Answers3

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 ¹

If I transfer from another computer, which folders need to be copied?

How I removed Microsoft Edge from Windows 10

References

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge after removing every trace of it in the system?

3 Answers3

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 1

If I transfer from another computer, which folders need to be copied?

How I removed Microsoft Edge from Windows 10

References

How to reinstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 ¹