Edge 120+ Versions

[Crocodile73]

Windows 11 23h2 x64

Is anyone able too run Portable versions of 120 or the latest canary 121. It loads, but i cannot access any web pages or settings with 120. The last version 119 was able to run fine, now 120 is in beta, and that will not work. I installed normally to see, and they work fine that way.

[ChenXiaoming233]

I met the same question, and still don't know what Microsoft had changed in 120+ versions. Now I just stayed in v119 and wating for further solutions.

[ChenXiaoming233]

After several days exploration and now I believet I have figure out what problem has happened when running Edge 120+ versions, hope this comment could be seen by more people and problem could be solved.

I could run 120+ versions successfully but the solution is not perfect.

The cause is Microsoft has enabled a feature called "RendererAppContainer", which could enhance the secure of the browser, but it could cause bugs in loading pages if we change the profile location from /Program Files to other places. Change the place of edge.exe and other running files wouldn't lead to problems. The user profiles often storaged in _C:\Users<Username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default_This feature change also mentioned in the update log of Edge, you can see it in this page https://learn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/deployedge/microsoft-edge-relnote-beta-channel#version-120022107-november-13-2023

Microsoft also give us a solution to disabled this feature. We could use Edge Policy to disabled [RendererAppContainerEnabled] and then Edge could run successfully even we move the profiles to other places and the bug wouldn't show up. But this change happens in Registry, and if we solve problem in this way, the Edge Portable will be not Portable, because Registry changes
cann't move with Edge's files to other computers and load. That's not all,
https://docs.microsoft.com/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#rendererappcontainerenabled also metions that this change in Policy will be applicated to every profiles and every different versions of Edge in the computer, that means it will influence the local Edge and that's what I don't want to see.

I have tried every other solutions I could come up with, but none of them worked. Trying to use different channel version (stable, beta, dev and canary) cann't limit the change in single browser. Using the work and school account to sign in and apply the policy in Microsoft Intune platform (which could manage work and school account's behaviour) also not work.

Now the only way I know is through coding to solve this problem in programming level. But I'm just a normal Chinese high school student annoyed by boring school work everyday and completely clueless in this area. I don't have the energy to continue exploring, and hope there is anyone could continue to solve it.

Oh and by the way there may be numorous gramma error and Inappropriate expression in this paragraph because of my week English ability.The content may also be too long to read. Sorry and thanks for your understanding. /smile

[Crocodile73]

There is a portable beta and canary version that works on 120 and 121. They have separate profiles contained within a portable structure. I tried on dev adding the same files as that portable, but did not work. So it's an interesting issue.

[ChenXiaoming233]

I am very curious about where the edge canary and dev versions that can run under version 120 and 121 come from. Can you share it with me? Thank you very much. I don’t know much about other ways to solve the problem. I am trying to start from the edge running file, and replace the part that affects the running with the content of version 119 under the premise of retaining most of the content of version 120+. This is just my guess, I don’t know if it is useful. Thanks for the efforts you made.

[ChenXiaoming233]

Well seems that my guess is wrong.

[ChenXiaoming233]

Well I'm completely confused. I updated the version of my dev Edge to the newest one, and now the portable version base on it works well, the bug didn't show up.

I don't know reason why. May Microsoft has changed something in newer versions. I'm not sure if the changes could be held, but I'm glad to see this happened.

[Crocodile73]

Yeah just tried, and it's working for me also.

[zzzzzlanduo]

Currently, Microsoft Edge has pushed the Stable version 120 (120.0.2210.61), and this problem still exists. The Beta version (120.0.2210.61), Developer version (121.0.2256.2) and Canary version (121.0.2265.0) also have this problem.

[ltdeta]

edge beta 124.0.2450.2 same problem...

[ltdeta]

I can possibly update the source code, if someone can tell me exactly what needs to be changed.

[ltdeta]

As a first workaround, I initially implemented it via a windows CMD. The prerequisite is that you have the permission to write to the windows registry. Currently, the value is deleted from the registry as soon as the "edge launcher.exe" is started (a delay can be set using the variable waitTime) . I am not sure if the registry entry needs to remain active permanently during runtime or if it is sufficient to keep it active only until the program starts.

The file must be renamed to *.cmd and copied into the base folder
To start the launcher, use the file "Edge Launcher.cmd"
Edge Launcher.txt

[ltdeta]

@catvod
Great, it works, I wish I had known that earlier - Thanks!

[ltdeta]

The following provides a better solution that effectively resolves the problem.

• open "\Edge\Profile.txt"
• insert into "--user-data-dir="profile" --no-default-browser-check --disable-features=RendererAppContainer"
• save the file