How to Change the Default Browser in Windows 11

When you buy a brand new Windows 11 computer, Microsoft aggressively pushes its own web browser, Microsoft Edge. If you click a link in an email, open a PDF document, or search the web from the Start menu, Windows will force Microsoft Edge to open, regardless of whether you have already downloaded Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

To stop this behavior and force your computer to respect your preferred software, you must change your Default Browser settings. When Windows 11 first launched, Microsoft intentionally made this process incredibly confusing, forcing users to manually change file associations one by one. Fortunately, following significant consumer backlash, Microsoft released an update that restored a simple “one-click” default button.

How to Change Your Default Browser (The Easy Way)

Before you begin, ensure you have already downloaded and installed your preferred browser (such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Brave) onto your computer.

1. Click the Start Menu (the Windows icon) on your taskbar.
2. Click the gear icon to open the Settings app. (Alternatively, press the Windows Key + I on your keyboard).
3. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Apps.
4. In the main pane, click on Default apps.
5. You will see a search bar at the top that says “Set a default for a file type or link type.” Ignore this. Instead, look slightly lower at the list of applications under “Set defaults for applications.”
6. Scroll down the alphabetical list until you find your preferred browser (e.g., Google Chrome). Click on it.
7. At the very top of the Chrome settings page, you will see a prominent banner that says “Make Google Chrome your default browser.”
8. Click the Set default button located on the right side of this banner.

A small checkmark will appear next to the button. You have successfully changed your default browser. Now, whenever you click a web link in any application, your chosen browser will launch instead of Microsoft Edge.

How to Fix PDF Files Opening in Edge

While the “Set default” button mentioned above fixes web links, it does not always fix PDF documents. Microsoft Edge is heavily integrated into Windows 11 as the default PDF viewer, meaning if you double-click a PDF file on your desktop, it will still open in Edge.

To force PDF files to open in your preferred browser (or in a dedicated PDF reader like Adobe Acrobat), you must manually change the specific file association.

1. Stay on the exact same Settings page where you clicked the “Set default” button (Settings > Apps > Default apps > Google Chrome).
2. Scroll down the long list of file extensions until you find .pdf.
3. You will likely see the Microsoft Edge icon next to it. Click the Microsoft Edge icon.
4. A pop-up window will appear asking, “How do you want to open .pdf files from now on?”
5. Select your preferred software (e.g., Google Chrome or Adobe Acrobat) from the list.
6. Click OK.

The icon next to .pdf will change to reflect your choice. From now on, your computer will respect your preferences for both web links and PDF documents.

A Warning About Windows Search

There is one area of Windows 11 where Microsoft completely ignores your default browser settings: the Start Menu search bar. If you press the Windows key and type a question (e.g., “weather in London”) and hit Enter, Windows will force the search results to open in Microsoft Edge using the Bing search engine, even if you just set Chrome as your default.

Microsoft has hardcoded this behavior into the operating system. While third-party utilities exist to bypass this restriction, they are frequently broken by Windows updates. The best practice is to simply open your preferred browser directly when you want to search the web, rather than relying on the Start Menu search bar.