How to Change Default Browser in Windows 10

Use Windows Settings.

Press Windows+I, select Apps, open Default apps, click the current browser under Web browser, and choose the installed browser that should handle ordinary HTTP and HTTPS links.

1. Close any browser setup window that is already open.
2. Press Windows+I to open Settings.
3. Select Apps.
4. Select Default apps in the left pane.
5. Scroll to Web browser.
6. Click the current app, usually Microsoft Edge.
7. Select Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or another browser from the list.

The selected product should now appear below Web browser. If the app is missing, confirm that its desktop version is installed for the current Windows account, then reopen the Default apps screen.

Do not use a browser's taskbar shortcut as a test. That shortcut always launches its named application, regardless of the Windows default, while an ordinary link asks Windows to choose the registered handler.

Firefox also provides a Make Default button under Settings > General > Startup, but that button ultimately requests the same Windows association change described in Mozilla's default-browser instructions↗.

Open a normal link.

Press Windows+R, enter a standard HTTPS address such as https://example.com, and select OK; the page should open in the browser shown under Settings > Apps > Default apps > Web browser.

Repeat the test from another application, such as a plain-text document, an email client, or the Help menu of an installed app. A successful result from the Run box proves that the operating system's HTTPS association changed, while a different result from one application points to that application's link handling.

Test HTTP separately if needed. Enter http://example.com in the Run box and check both the browser window and address bar, because the destination may immediately redirect to HTTPS.

If Windows displays an app-picker box, select the intended browser and enable Always use this app when that option appears. If nothing opens, repair or reinstall the browser from its official source rather than downloading a registry file or third-party default-app utility.

Windows uses registered applications and associations to decide which program receives a file or protocol, a model described in Microsoft's Default Programs documentation↗.

Some links bypass the default.

A Windows component or installed application can invoke a particular browser, use its own embedded Web view, or call a custom URI scheme instead of handing an ordinary HTTP or HTTPS link to the system default.

First identify the exception. Copy the destination and paste it into the Run box; if it opens in the chosen browser there, the Web browser setting works and the original application is controlling how that link launches.

Then inspect individual associations:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Default apps.
2. Select Choose default apps by protocol.
3. Find HTTP and HTTPS, then confirm that both name the intended browser.
4. Return and select Choose default apps by file type.
5. Check .htm and .html if saved Web pages open in the wrong application.

Protocol and file defaults are separate. Changing the Web browser tile normally covers common links, but an old installation, browser update, managed computer policy, or damaged registration can leave one association pointing elsewhere.

Links using a browser-specific scheme are different. Microsoft documents microsoft-edge: as a scheme that opens Edge, so changing the general Web default does not rewrite such a request; the Microsoft Edge URI scheme reference explains that behavior.

If the settings revert after an update, set the browser again from Windows Settings and restart the computer. On a work or school PC, ask the administrator whether policy controls default applications before changing the registry, because a policy refresh can simply restore the managed choice.