Allowing a third-party browser to programmatically set itself as the default is an important platform feature. Without this, even after the user has installed the browser of their choice they must navigate operating system settings and make the choice there as well. This adds friction and creates inertia to continue using Edge, despite the user's preference.

A well-established design pattern is to allow the third-party browser to invoke a system prompt which permits the user to easily confirm or reject the request to set the current browser as the default. This is an intuitive user experience that mirrors similar permissions models used in operating systems, browsers, and web applications. Android and macOS offer such a capability (on Android by requesting to hold the browser role and on macOS using LSSetDefaultHandlerForURLScheme/LSSetDefaultRoleHandlerForContentType).

Unfortunately, Windows does not support anything like this for third-party browsers: browsers are forced to “deep link” into the Windows settings UI. On Windows 10 this requires several clicks and a double confirmation in the settings UI. On Windows 11 there is a “Set default” button. Neither is sufficient. Windows should instead provide a method for third-party browsers to programmatically request they be set as the default.