Edge Chromium Home Page Policies Using Intune Administrative Policies

Let’s see how to configure Edge Chromium Home Page Policies Using Intune Administrative Policies. The Intune The administrative templates include many out of box thousands of settings that control many user experience and security features of Windows 10 and apps.

These out of box settings available in Intune allow group administrators to manage group policies using the cloud. All these policies are ADMX backed policies with group policy experience for device management admins.

If you are looking for a Microsoft Edge Chromium deployment guide using Intune, you can refer to the post Troubleshooting Tips for Edge Chromium Deployment Using Intune | Azure AD Registered | Backend Process.

📌 Group Policy to MDM CSP Policy Migration Tool https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/#learn-about-migrating-to-mdm

What is Configure the Home Page Policy?

Let’s understand the home page policy and understand the business requirement here! Configure the required policies as per the actual business requirement.

The home page is the page opened by the Home button. Home page is not the one page which opens up when you start the browser. The pages that open on startup are controlled by the ‘RestoreOnStartup‘ (Action to take on startup) policies.

• So, if you want to set up a page that needs to open on the startup then you need to setup RestoreOnStartUp policies of Edge chromium.
• You can either set a URL in the Home Page Policy or set the home page to open the new tab page. If you select to open the new tab page, then this policy doesn’t take effect.
• If you enable the Home Page Policy, users can’t change their home page URL, but they can choose to use the new tab page as their home page.
• If you disable or don’t configure Home Page Policy, users can choose their own home page, as long as the ‘HomepageIsNewTabPage’ (Set the new tab page as the home page) policy isn’t enabled.

Policy Value for New tab page URL ==> Enabled

What is Sites to open when the browser starts Policy?

This policy Specify a list of websites to open automatically when the Edge Chromium browser starts. If you don’t configure this policy, no site is opened on startup.

• This policy only works if you also set the ‘RestoreOnStartup’ (Action to take on startup) policy to ‘Open a list of URLs’ (4).

Policy Value for New tab page URL ==> Enabled

What is New tab page URL Policy?

Let’s understand the new tab page URL policy – This policy determines the page that’s opened when new tabs are created (including when new windows are opened). It also affects the startup page if that’s set to open to the new tab page.

• This policy doesn’t determine which page opens on startup; that’s controlled by the ‘RestoreOnStartup‘ (Action to take on startup) policy. It also doesn’t affect the home page if that’s set to open to the new tab page.
• If you configure this policy and the ‘NewTabPageSetFeedType’ (Configure the Microsoft Edge new tab page experience) policy, this policy has precedence.

Policy Value for New tab page URL ==> Disabled

What is Set the new tab page as the home page Policy?

Set the new tab page as the home page Policy Configures the default home page in Microsoft Edge Chromium. You can set the home page to a URL you specify or to the new tab page.

• If you enable this policy, the new tab page is always used for the home page, and the home page URL location is ignored.
• If you disable this policy, the user’s home page can’t be the new tab page, unless the URL is set to ‘edge://newtab’.
• If not configured users can choose whether the new tab page is their home page.

Policy Value Set the new tab page as the home page ==> Disabled

What is Sites to open when the browser starts Policy

Specify a list of websites to open automatically when the browser starts. If you don’t configure this policy, no site is opened on startup.

• This policy only works if you also set the ‘RestoreOnStartup’ (Action to take on startup) policy to ‘Open a list of URLs’ (4).

Policy Value Set the new tab page as the home page ==> Enabled

What is Action to take on startup Policy?

The Startup policy controls how Microsoft Edge chromium behaves when it starts.

• If you want a new tab to always open on startup, choose ‘Open new tab‘ (5).
• If you want to reopen URLs that were open the last time Microsoft Edge closed, choose ‘Restore the last session’ (1). The browsing session will be restored as it was. Note that this option disables some settings that rely on sessions or that perform actions on exit (such as Clear browsing data on exit or session-only cookies).
• If you want to open a specific set of URLs, choose ‘Open a list of URLs’ (4).
• Disabling this setting is equivalent to leaving it not configured. Users will be able to change it in Microsoft Edge.

Policy Value Action to take on startup ==> Enabled

Overview of Policies

I have decided to deploy the following policies to get the following end-user experience when a user launches Microsoft edge browser. And open the new tab.

• Configure the home page URL – Enabled
• Show Home button on toolbar – Enabled
• Sites to open when the browser starts – Enabled
• Action to take on startup – Enabled
• Set the new tab page as the home page – Disabled
• Configure the new tab page URL – Disabled

End-User Experience

Windows 10 end user experience when user launches Edge Chromium and open new tab:

• When user launches Microsoft Edge Chromium browser – The Home page opens up with the company’s home (Intranet ?)
• When user clicks on + button to open new tab – The blank page appears

Configure Edge Chromium Home Page Policies

• Select Devices > Configuration profiles > Create profile.
• Select Platform as Windows 10 and later.
• Select Profile: Administrative Templates.
• Click on the Create button.
• Enter the Name 👉 Edge Chromium Home Page Policies
• Enter the Description 👉Edge Chromium Home Page Policies
• Click NEXT

• In Configuration settings,
  • Select Computer Configuration 👉Microsoft Edge👉Startup, home page and new tab page
  • Select the policy called 👉Configure the home page URL
  • Select the Enabled button
  • Enter the Home Page URL 👉http://htmdforum.com/

• More details in the following post to complete the policy assignment – Create Deploy Group Policy Using Intune Administrative Template.
• Follow the above steps to configure the following policies to get the following results which are shown in the below section.
  • Configure the home page URL – Enabled
    • Value – https://howtomanagedevices.com/
  • Action to take on startup – Enabled
    • Open a List of URLs
  • Show Home button on toolbar – Enabled
  • Sites to open when the browser starts – Enabled
    • Sites to open when the browser starts – https://howtomanagedevices.com/
  • Configure the new tab page URL – Disabled
  • Set the new tab page as the home page – Disabled

• Click on Save + Review and Deploy these policies to MDM Managed devices.

Event Logs

Let’s check the event logs on Windows 10 devices to analyze Intune Administrative templates policy deployment.

👉Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin 

MDM PolicyManager: Set policy string, Policy: (HomepageLocation), Area: (microsoft_edge~Policy~microsoft_edge~Startup), EnrollmentID requesting merge: (AAB267BF-EBF2-4649-822C-74511A4CC253), Current User: (Device), String: (<enabled/><data id="HomepageLocation" value="https://howtomanagedevices.com/" />), Enrollment Type: (0x6), Scope: (0x0).

MDM PolicyManager: Dedicated non-cached delayed notification (WNF): (0xA3BC0875, 0xD891E2A) published for Policy: (HomepageLocation) in Area (microsoft_edge~Policy~microsoft_edge~Startup).

Registry Entries Edge Chromium

The following is the registry location where you can find the Edge Chromium ADMX injection using Intune Administrative templates. Unlike Google Chrome ADMX, you don’t need to create custom Intune configuration profiles. Manage Chrome ADMX Policies using Intune | ADMX Injection Process on Windows 10

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\AdmxInstalled\D8D5A74A-020E-40F2-BA69-086EDDDD9F08\microsoft_edge\Policy\microsoft_edge

👉Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

Edge Policies

Try opening – edge://policy/ to check the policies deployed to device.

Results

• Intune Portal Results

• Windows 10 Edge Chromium Browser on startup – When you launch the browser: the home page will get loaded.
• When I click on + button to add new tab – a blank new tab is opened.

Resources

• Create Deploy Group Policy Using Intune Administrative Template 👉https://howtomanagedevices.com/intune/1671/intune-administrative-template/
• Use Windows 10 templates to configure group policy settings in Microsoft Intune – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/configuration/administrative-templates-windows