Microsoft Brings Edge WebView2 to Windows 10

Microsoft revealed today that it has started rolling out the Chromium-based WebView2 runtime to Windows 10 consumer PCs.

“Microsoft Edge WebView2 is a developer control for embedding web content in applications,” Microsoft’s Limin Zhu explains. “It allows developers to leverage the best of what [the] Microsoft Edge Chromium platform can offer and build seamless experiences for their users that incorporate web-based content.”

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WebView2 debuted in October 2020, allowing desktop developers creating Win32 C/C++ apps to add modern web technologies to their applications. Compatibility with .NET apps arrived in November 2020, and then with WinUI 3-based apps in November 2021 as part of the Windows App SDK.

Windows 11 is the first version of Windows to include the WebView2 runtime as Windows 10, to date, has only provided the older Trident-based WebView runtime, forcing developers to include the newer runtime with their apps. That effort has been successful: Microsoft says that over 400 million Windows 10 PCs now have the WebView2 runtime installed thanks to developers distributing WebView2 applications. But making it part of the operating system will provide a more seamless experience and make for smaller app downloads.

Non-managed (consumer) Windows 10 Home and Pro PCs running version 1803 or newer will receive WebView2 soon. And Microsoft says it is evaluating a similar rollout for managed/domain-joined Enterprise PCs in the future.

You can learn more about WebView2 on the Microsoft Docs website.

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Conversation 3 comments

  • iAlrakis

    Premium Member
    28 June, 2022 - 6:44 am

    <p>Noticed Webview2 on my work laptop recently so started checking our 2016 servers. Although the software wasn’t listed in Add/remove programs there was a Webview2 executable in the Edge folder. I could however still install Webview2 and it created a separate folder with files of identical size and appeared in Add/remove programs. Very confusing. </p>

    • dftf

      28 June, 2022 - 4:05 pm

      <p><em>"</em><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Although the software wasn’t listed in Add/remove programs"</em></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You mean "Programs and Features"… it hasn’t been called </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Add/Remove Programs</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> since </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Windows XP</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">!</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But also remember, </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">only legacy installed apps</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> will appear inside "Programs and Features", as that is the older UI. All </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">modern apps</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, such as those from the </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Microsoft Store</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, will only appear in Start &gt; Settings &gt; Apps (where legacy apps will appear, also). If the </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Webview2</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> is being distributed via the </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Edge</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> browser itself (the background updater process might install it), then it may also not appear in either-place, as it might get treated as "just a part of </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Edge</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">".</span></p>

  • dftf

    28 June, 2022 - 4:01 pm

    <p>If you install anything that requires it on <em>Windows 10</em>, such as the updated "Quick Assist" app, or the "Clipchamp Video Editor", they usually error the first time you launch them, and <em>Windows</em> will trigger the download of that component in the background. (The same-way that, if you try to run an app that requires one of the <em>Visual C++</em> libraries, they often get background-installed too, after an app fails to run.)</p>

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