The Edge Hijack
Microsoft aggressively pushes its Edge browser within Windows 11. Even if you have successfully installed Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and set it as your default browser in the main settings, you will notice that certain links—specifically those clicked within the Start Menu search results, the Widgets board, or certain internal Windows help menus—still automatically open in Microsoft Edge. This is because Windows uses a proprietary protocol handler (`microsoft-edge://`) for its internal web queries, explicitly bypassing your user-defined default browser and forcing you into the Microsoft ecosystem.
Redirecting Internal Links
To ensure total consistency across your operating system and stop Windows 11 from automatically opening internal search links in Edge, you must intercept that specific protocol and redirect it to your browser of choice.
Because Microsoft actively prevents changing the `microsoft-edge://` handler in the standard Settings app, you must use a specialized third-party utility. The most reliable and popular tool for this is MSEdgeRedirect (available for free on GitHub). Download and run the installer. During setup, select “Active Mode” (which runs quietly in the background). Ensure the checkbox for “Edge Results” is checked, and optionally, check other Windows features you want redirected (like Widgets or Weather). Choose your preferred default browser from the dropdown list (e.g., Chrome). Once the utility is running, anytime Windows attempts to force open an Edge window from the Start menu, MSEdgeRedirect instantly catches the request, translates it into a standard `https://` link, and hands it off to your actual default browser.