Fix Microsoft Edge Not Opening or Reinstalling (2026)
Why This Is Happening
I've seen this exact scenario play out on dozens of machines , Chrome crashes hard, and when the dust settles, Edge is dead too. You sit there thinking, "How did one browser take down an entirely different browser?" It feels wrong, and honestly, Microsoft's error messages do nothing to explain it. You might just see a blank flash where Edge should launch, or the window never appears at all. No error code, no explanation. Just silence.
Here's what's actually going on. Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are built on the Chromium engine. They share a critical background component called Microsoft WebView2 Runtime , a system-level web rendering engine that both browsers (and many Windows apps) depend on. When Chrome crashes catastrophically, especially during an update or forced kill, it can corrupt shared WebView2 files, overwrite DLL references in the registry, or leave broken lock files that prevent Edge from accessing its own runtime libraries.
There are a few specific failure points I see most often:
- Corrupted WebView2 Runtime: Chrome's installer and Edge's installer both touch
EBWebViewand related components underC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView. A mid-crash write can leave these in a half-installed state. - Broken Edge profile: If Edge was open when Chrome crashed (both running simultaneously), Edge's own user profile at
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Datacan end up with a corruptedPreferencesfile or a stalelockfilethat blocks future launches. - Missing or broken system flags: Features like vertical tabs, microphone-operated search (Cortana integration), and sidebar apps are registered as Edge feature flags. If the registry keys that track these got wiped or corrupted during the crash cascade, those features simply don't appear anymore, even if Edge does eventually open.
- Windows Component Store damage: In rarer cases, the crash triggers write errors that damage the Windows component store, making a standard reinstall impossible because the installer itself reports errors like
0x80070005or0x80073D05.
This is frustrating, I know that. Especially when Edge is your work browser and you've lost your vertical tabs layout, your saved passwords are inaccessible, and your voice search shortcut is gone. The good news: this is almost always fully recoverable without losing your browsing data. You just need to fix it in the right order.
Before you start, browse all Microsoft fix guides →, if you hit other Windows problems along the way, we've got you covered.
The Quick Fix, Try This First
Before going through the full repair sequence, try this first. It resolves Microsoft Edge not opening in roughly 40% of cases and takes under two minutes.
Open Command Prompt as Administrator, press Win + S, type cmd, right-click "Command Prompt," and choose "Run as administrator." Then paste this command exactly:
cd /d "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application"
for /f "delims=" %a in ('dir /b /ad ^| sort /r') do (cd "%a" && installer\setup.exe --repair && goto :done)
:doneThis navigates to your installed Edge version folder and runs the built-in repair utility directly. If Edge is partially installed, this forces a self-repair without touching your profile data. You should see a brief installer window flash open and close. After it finishes, try launching Edge normally.
If that doesn't work, or if you get an error like "The system cannot find the path specified", it means Edge's application folder itself is missing or the path is broken. Don't panic. That means we need the full repair sequence starting at Step 2 below. The command failing isn't making things worse; it just tells you where the damage is.
One more thing to try right now if the command above runs but Edge still won't launch: kill any leftover Edge processes that might be hanging in the background.
taskkill /F /IM msedge.exe /TSometimes a ghost process, an msedge.exe that launched, got stuck, and never fully exited, holds a lock on the profile folder. This single command kills the entire process tree. Then try launching Edge again.
msedge.exe entries sitting at 0% CPU and consuming almost no memory, those are zombie processes from the crash. Kill them all manually before running any fix, otherwise the repair tool itself can fail because the files it needs to replace are still "in use."
This step fixes Microsoft Edge crashing on startup when the browser technically exists but refuses to open. The most common culprit after a Chrome crash scenario is a stale lockfile inside your Edge profile directory. Edge writes this file when it opens to signal "I'm running", if it never got a chance to clean up during the crash, that file still exists and Edge sees it as another instance already running. It refuses to start a second instance and silently dies.
Press Win + R, type the following path, and press Enter:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\DefaultIn the folder that opens, look for a file simply named lockfile (no extension). Delete it. While you're here, also delete Network Action Predictor and Network Action Predictor-journal if they're present, these database files can also become corrupted and prevent startup.
If you can't see a lockfile in the Default folder, go up one level to User Data and delete the file named lockfile there as well. There are actually two: one in User Data and one in User Data\Default.
After deleting, try launching Edge. If it opens, great, you're done. Your bookmarks, passwords, and history should all still be there. If Edge opens but your features like vertical tabs or microphone search are still missing, continue to Step 5 after completing Step 2.
Windows 11 and Windows 10 (build 1903+) let you repair Edge directly from Settings without touching the command line. This is the cleanest way to fix a broken Edge installation when you can't open Microsoft Edge at all, it rebuilds the app's internal registration without wiping your profile.
Open Settings with Win + I. Go to Apps → Installed Apps (on Windows 11) or Apps → Apps & features (on Windows 10). In the search box, type Microsoft Edge. You'll see it listed, click the three-dot menu (Windows 11) or click the entry directly (Windows 10) and select Modify.
A small window appears with two options: Repair and Reset. Always try Repair first. It re-registers Edge with Windows, fixes broken file associations, and restores missing components, without deleting your browsing data. Click Repair and wait. The process takes 30–90 seconds. You won't see a progress bar; the button just grays out and then becomes clickable again when it's done.
If Repair completes but Edge still won't launch, come back and click Reset. Reset does wipe your local profile data (browser history, cached passwords stored locally, site settings), but if your Microsoft account is synced to Edge, all of that comes back automatically when you sign in after the reset. Make note of any locally-stored passwords you haven't synced before clicking Reset.
After either option, restart your PC once before testing. Windows needs to re-initialize some of Edge's background services properly on a fresh boot.
If Steps 1 and 2 didn't fix your Microsoft Edge not opening issue, WebView2 is almost certainly the problem. This runtime is the shared Chromium engine that both Edge and Chrome use under the hood. A Chrome crash can leave WebView2 in a broken state, and without a working WebView2, Edge simply cannot render anything and refuses to launch.
First, let's check what state WebView2 is in. Open Apps → Installed Apps in Settings and search for WebView2. If you see "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime" listed, try repairing it there first (same three-dot → Modify → Repair process as Step 2). If it's not listed at all, or if repair fails, you need to reinstall it.
Download the WebView2 Runtime installer directly from Microsoft. Open a working browser (use your phone if needed to get the URL, or use Internet Explorer if it's still accessible via iexplore.exe). Search for "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime download", the official page is on microsoft.com under the Edge developer section. Download the Evergreen Bootstrapper (the small downloader, not the fixed version).
Run the installer as Administrator. It downloads and installs the latest runtime automatically. The whole thing takes under two minutes on a decent connection.
After installation, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\Clients\{F3017226-FE2A-4295-8BDF-00C3A9A7E4C5}"You should see a pv value with a version number like 120.0.xxxx.xx. If that registry key exists and has a version, WebView2 is properly registered. Now try launching Edge again.
If Edge still won't open after the previous steps, the installation itself is damaged beyond repair. You need to remove it entirely and reinstall. On Windows 11 and 10, you can't uninstall Edge through the normal GUI, Microsoft removed that option. But you can do it with PowerShell.
Open PowerShell as Administrator (Win + X → "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" or "Terminal (Admin)"). First, find the exact installed version:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*MicrosoftEdge*"}For the modern Chromium-based Edge (which is what you have), it won't show as an Appx package, it's a Win32 application. Instead, use this to find the setup executable and version folder:
Get-ChildItem "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\" -Directory | Sort-Object Name -Descending | Select-Object -First 1Note the version number. Now run the uninstaller for that version (replace XXX.X.XXXX.XX with your actual version number from the command above):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\XXX.X.XXXX.XX\Installer\setup.exe" --uninstall --system-level --verbose-logging --force-uninstallAfter uninstalling, reinstall Edge. The cleanest method on Windows 11 is via winget:
winget install --id Microsoft.Edge --source winget --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreementsThis pulls the latest stable Edge directly from Microsoft's own package repository. Once installed, restart your PC. Edge should launch normally, and because you're signing in fresh, all your synced data will restore automatically from your Microsoft account.
So Edge opens, but it's not the Edge you know. Vertical tabs are gone. Microphone-operated search (the voice search functionality) doesn't work. The sidebar is missing. This is a separate problem from the launch failure, and it happens because Edge's feature flags and profile settings got wiped during either the crash or the repair process.
Start with the built-in feature flags. In Edge's address bar, type:
edge://flagsIn the search box on that page, search for vertical tabs. Set "Vertical Tabs" to Enabled. Also search for sidebar and re-enable "Sidebar" if it's showing as Disabled. Click Restart when prompted.
For vertical tabs to stick permanently, also enable it from the toolbar: right-click on the tab bar at the top → Turn on vertical tabs. This writes it to your profile so it survives future restarts.
For microphone search (voice input) not working in Microsoft Edge, this is usually a permissions issue after the reinstall. Go to:
edge://settings/content/microphoneMake sure the microphone toggle is On at the top of that page. Then check that https://www.bing.com or your default search engine's URL isn't listed under "Block." If it is, remove it from the block list.
If voice search still doesn't respond after fixing permissions, the issue is with Windows microphone access. Go to Windows Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and confirm that "Let apps access your microphone" is toggled On, and that "Microsoft Edge" specifically shows as allowed in the app list below.
Once these settings are in place, close and reopen Edge. Your vertical tabs layout, microphone search, and sidebar features should all be back. If you had a custom vertical tabs group layout, those are stored in your Edge profile's Preferences file and won't restore from sync automatically, so you'll need to recreate your tab groups manually.
Advanced Troubleshooting
If you've gone through all five steps and Microsoft Edge not opening is still your reality, something deeper is going on. These advanced approaches cover the scenarios that standard fixes miss, enterprise machines, domain-joined environments, Group Policy conflicts, and actual Windows component damage.
Check Event Viewer for the Real Error
Press Win + X → Event Viewer. Expand Windows Logs → Application. Click Filter Current Log on the right, and in the "Event sources" box, type msedge. Also check for sources containing Application Error. Look for Event ID 1000 (application crash) or 1026 (.NET runtime error). The "Faulting module name" field in Event ID 1000 tells you exactly which DLL is failing, that's your target. Common culprits I see: ntdll.dll (Windows kernel corruption), msvcp140.dll (Visual C++ runtime missing), or msedge.dll itself.
If you see msvcp140.dll or vcruntime140.dll as the faulting module, you need to reinstall the Visual C++ Redistributables. Search for "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable" and install both the x64 and x86 versions of 2015-2022.
Group Policy Blocking Edge on Domain-Joined Machines
On corporate or school machines joined to a domain, your IT administrator may have a Group Policy blocking Edge reinstallation or restricting browser features. Open Command Prompt and run:
gpresult /H C:\gpresult.html && start C:\gpresult.htmlThis generates a full Group Policy report. Open it and search for "Edge" or "browser." If you see policies under Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Edge with statuses like "Prohibited" or feature flags set to "Disabled," your IT department controls those settings and you won't be able to change them from the client side. Raise a ticket with your IT admin, they'll need to either create an exception or push an updated policy.
Registry Fix for Edge Not Launching
Sometimes the registry key that tells Windows where to find the Edge executable gets wiped. Open Registry Editor (Win + R, type regedit, Enter). Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\msedge.exeThe (Default) value here should point to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe. If that key doesn't exist or points somewhere wrong, right-click the App Paths key → New → Key → name it msedge.exe. Then set the Default value to the correct path. After saving, try launching Edge.
Run System File Checker and DISM
If Chrome's crash corrupted Windows system files, Edge reinstallation keeps failing with errors like 0x80073D05 or 0x800736B3. Run these two commands in sequence from an elevated Command Prompt:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthsfc /scannowDISM reaches out to Windows Update servers to pull clean replacement files (takes 10–20 minutes). SFC then repairs protected system files using what DISM restored. After both complete, restart and try the Edge reinstall again.
If DISM reports "The restore operation failed" or SFC reports "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them," your Windows installation has damage that can't be self-repaired. At this point, you're looking at either an in-place upgrade install (which preserves your files) or, worst case, a clean Windows install. Before going that route, contact Microsoft Support, they have tools to remotely diagnose the component store and may be able to fix it without a full reinstall. Have your Windows version (Win+Pause/Break → edition) and the exact error codes from Event Viewer ready when you call.
Prevention & Best Practices
You've fixed it once. Let's make sure a Chrome crash, or any browser crash, doesn't take Edge down with it again.
The core problem is that Chrome and Edge share the WebView2 runtime and some system-level Chromium components. If Chrome's installer or updater process crashes during a write operation, it can corrupt those shared files. The single most effective prevention is keeping WebView2 pinned to the Evergreen channel so it self-updates independently of either browser.
To verify it's on the Evergreen channel, open Edge and navigate to edge://settings/help. Under "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime," it should say "Evergreen." If it says a specific version number with no auto-update status, it may be on a fixed channel, which means it won't heal itself after corruption. Run the WebView2 Evergreen Bootstrapper installer again to switch it back.
Another overlooked protection: keep Edge and Chrome on separate update schedules. If both browsers update simultaneously (which happens if they're both set to "automatically update in background"), a crash during one update can interfere with the other. In Chrome settings, you can stagger this by disabling background updates and updating Chrome manually when Edge isn't open.
For voice search and microphone features specifically: these break most often when Windows runs an audio driver update. After any major Windows update, go to edge://settings/content/microphone and verify the permissions are still set correctly. Takes 10 seconds and saves you the headache.
Finally, sync your Edge profile to a Microsoft account if you haven't already. Go to edge://settings/profiles and sign in. With sync enabled, if you ever need to nuke and reinstall Edge again, your bookmarks, passwords, tabs, extensions, and settings all restore within 30 seconds of signing back in. Without sync, you'd lose everything stored locally.
- Sign into Edge with your Microsoft account and enable full sync, one reinstall won't cost you your data again
- Export your Edge passwords monthly via
edge://settings/passwords→ three-dot menu → Export, keep the CSV somewhere safe - Don't run Chrome and Edge update processes simultaneously, stagger your browsers so only one updates at a time
- After every major Windows Update (monthly Patch Tuesday), do a 30-second spot-check: open Edge, test the microphone button on Bing, and confirm vertical tabs are still enabled
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Chrome crashing break Microsoft Edge, they're completely different browsers, right?
Different brands, same engine underneath. Both Chrome and Edge are built on the Chromium open-source project, and on Windows they both rely on a shared component called Microsoft WebView2 Runtime. When Chrome crashes hard, especially during an update or a forced kill, it can leave WebView2's files in a corrupted state. Since Edge can't function without WebView2, it stops launching too. It's the same reason why a crash in one Adobe app can sometimes break other Adobe apps, shared underlying libraries are the link between them.
Can I reinstall Microsoft Edge without losing my bookmarks and saved passwords?
Yes, absolutely, as long as you do two things first. Sign into Edge with your Microsoft account and enable sync before the reinstall (or confirm it was already synced). You can verify this at edge://settings/profiles. If sync is on, your bookmarks, passwords, extensions, open tabs, and history will all restore automatically after you reinstall and sign back in. If sync isn't enabled, export your passwords and bookmarks manually before reinstalling. Go to edge://settings/passwords for passwords and edge://favorites → three-dot menu → Export for bookmarks.
My vertical tabs keep disappearing every time I restart Edge, how do I make them stay?
This is a known annoyance when Edge's profile isn't syncing correctly. Two things to check: first, make sure you've enabled vertical tabs from the tab bar itself (right-click the tab bar → "Turn on vertical tabs"), not just from edge://flags. The flags version can get reset; the tab bar toggle writes it more persistently to your profile. Second, go to edge://settings/profiles and confirm that "Appearance" is checked under your sync settings. If appearance sync is off, Edge won't remember your vertical tabs choice across sessions. Enable it, sign out of Edge and back in, and it should stick.
Microphone search in Edge stopped working but my mic works fine in other apps, what's going on?
This is almost always a permissions mismatch between Windows and Edge, not a hardware problem. After a crash or reinstall, Edge can lose its microphone permission at the Windows level even if everything looks fine inside Edge's own settings. Go to Windows Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone. Scroll down to the "Let desktop apps access your microphone" section and verify Edge is listed and allowed there. Then go to edge://settings/content/microphone inside Edge and make sure your default search engine URL isn't on the block list. After fixing both, close Edge completely (including from the system tray) and reopen it.
Edge opens but immediately crashes, I see a flash of the window and then it closes. How do I fix this?
A flash-and-close on launch almost always means a corrupted profile file or a conflicting extension loading at startup. The fastest diagnosis: open Edge with a fresh profile from the command line. Press Win + R and run "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --no-first-run --profile-directory="Temp". If Edge opens and stays open with this command, your main Default profile is corrupted. Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default and delete the Preferences file (this resets your settings but not bookmarks). If Edge still crashes even with --profile-directory="Temp", the problem is the installation itself, go back to Step 4 for a full reinstall.
I tried to reinstall Edge and the installer says "Microsoft Edge cannot be installed" with error 0x80070005, what does that mean?
Error 0x80070005 is "Access Denied", the installer can't write to the system directory it needs to. This usually means either a permissions problem on the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge folder or an antivirus/security tool blocking the installation. First, temporarily disable your antivirus and try again. If that doesn't help, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run icacls "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge" /grant Administrators:F /T, this resets full permissions on the Edge directory. Then try the installer again. If you're on a domain-joined machine, you may not have local admin rights and will need to ask your IT department to push the install through your organization's software deployment system.