How to block automatic delivery of Microsoft Edge Chromium-based

In this article, we shall discuss “How to block automatic delivery of Microsoft Edge Chromium-based”. Kindly refer to these interesting guides: How to download and use Windows SysInternals tools locally, and how to Enable BitLocker AES-XTX 256 Encryption Method.

Organizations that would like to block the automatic delivery of the new Microsoft Edge to devices on Home and Pro Editions with Windows update enabled can do so either via Group policies or by downloading and deploying the Blocker Toolkit. Note that Internet Explorer is not impacted by the automatic rollout.

There are two options (methods) to have this done, which are
– Group Policy Administrative Template (.ADMX and .ADML files) and
– Via the “Blocker Script”

You can download the Blocker Toolkit executable file from http://bit.ly/30PxyWN

Download the tool and double click it to extract the files executable.

Accept the license by clicking on Yes.

Below is the result of the extracted file.

Note: This blocker Toolkit will not prevent manually installation of Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) from Internet download, or from external media. This toolkit contains the following components:
– Executable blocker script (.CMD)
– Group Policy Administrative Template (.ADMX and .ADML).

Blocker script
– The script when launched will create a registry key and sets the necessary value to block or unblock the automatic delivery of Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) on either the local machine or a remote target machine.

Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftEdgeUpdate
where 
- 0 means the distribution is not blocked and
- 1 means the distribution is blocked
- Key is not defined means the distribution isn't configured.

Below is the syntax on how the command is run

Group Policy Administrative Template (.ADMX and .ADML files):
– This allows you to import the new Group Policy settings to block or unblock automatic delivery of Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) into their Group Policy environment, and use Group Policy to centrally execute the action across systems in their environment.

Take a look at the structure of the EdgeChromium_Blocker.admx file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<policyDefinitions revision="1.0" schemaVersion="1.0">
  <policyNamespaces>
   <target prefix="EdgeChromium" namespace="Microsoft.Policies.EdgeUpdate" />
   <using prefix="windows" namespace="Microsoft.Policies.Windows" />
   <using prefix="wuau" namespace="Microsoft.Policies.WindowsUpdate" />
  </policyNamespaces>
  <supersededAdm fileName="EdgeChromium_Blocker.adm" />
  <resources minRequiredRevision="1.0" />
  <categories>
    <category name="EdgeChromiumBlockers" displayName="$(string.EdgeChromiumBlockers)">
      <parentCategory ref="wuau:WindowsUpdateCat" />
    </category>
  </categories>
  <policies>
    <policy name="NoUpdate" class="Machine" displayName="$(string.NoUpdate)" explainText="$(string.NoUpdate_Explain)" presentation="$(presentation.NoUpdate)" key="SOFTWAREMicrosoftEdgeUpdate" valueName="DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium">
      <parentCategory ref="EdgeChromiumBlockers" />
      <supportedOn ref="windows:SUPPORTED_Windows_10_0_RS4" />
      <enabledValue>
        <decimal value="1" />
      </enabledValue>
      <disabledValue>
        <decimal value="0" />
      </disabledValue>
    </policy>
  </policies>
</policyDefinitions>