Windows 10 users aren’t the only ones getting Microsoft Edge from Windows Update: Now it’s heading out to those running Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1 as well.
“This update will be downloaded and installed automatically from Windows Update,” Microsoft’s KB4567409 description notes. “Windows 7 support ended on January 14, 2020. Although Microsoft Edge helps keep your device helps secure on the web, your device may still be vulnerable to security risks. We recommend that you move to a supported operating system.”
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Once installed, you’ll find a new Microsoft Edge icon pinned to your taskbar, but Edge will not replace Internet Explorer. (On Windows 10, the new Edge replaces legacy Edge.) It also won’t change your default browser, so if you want to switch to Edge—and you do—you’ll need to make that change manually.
This update won’t be delivered to PCs that are running Windows Enterprise or are managed by Active Directory or Azure Active Directory, Microsoft notes.
And while Windows 8.1 doesn’t require any prerequisites to get this install, those on Windows 7 SP1 will also need two previous updates, KB4474419 and KB4490628. The former is a Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA-2) related to code signing and KB4490628 is a servicing stack update (SSU).
dftf
<p>On Windows 7 clients, will Edge only be delivered to SKUs still supported (Pro, Enterprise, Education) using the ESU, or is this all SKUs (Starter, Home and Ultimate)? Does it also come via Windows Update, or only if the user upgraded to Microsoft Update?</p><p><br></p><p>Also, the LTSC releases of Windows 10 (the ones that follow the old-style 10 years of support) don't come with the old Edge, but presumably this new Edge can be installed on them. If so, does Microsoft support the new Edge when running on LTSC Win10?</p>
dftf
<blockquote><em><a href="#547633">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Update: on Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 using Windows Update (not the Microsoft Update one you can update to in the settings), yes, you do get the new Edge pushed out:</p><p><br></p><p>i.imgur.com/8uhNh5C.png</p>
dftf
<blockquote><em><a href="#547679">In reply to red77star:</a></em></blockquote><p>The new <em>Edge</em> is essentially just <em>Google Chrome</em>, but with the <em>Google</em> services stripped-out and <em>Microsoft</em> ones added-in. So it's no-more special than <em>Google Chrome</em>, but is a good alternative for people who don't like Google.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus, Enterprise customers will like not having to install <em>Google Chrome</em> for users — if you do any work for government, military and so-on the less third-party software you use the easier security-clearance is.</p>