Windows – Powershell to set default browser

browsergoogle-chromepowershellpowershell-3.0windows 10

I created a process using PowerShell to install Chrome. What I am looking to do now is to have PowerShell change the registry for the computer and change the default browser to Chrome.

I would want this done for all users and not just the current user.
Right now I have this

Set-Itemproperty -path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\https\UserChoice -name "ProgId" -value ChromeHTML -force 
Set-Itemproperty -path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice -name "ProgId" -value ChromeHTML -force

to set the browser to default, but it is not working.

Best Answer

I would imagine you would need to create the equivalent in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations

Related Solutions

Windows – Path variable for default browser in Windows

You can use:

reg QUERY HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command /ve

And you will get something like:

(Default)    REG_SZ    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"

Then you can easily parse it.

Windows – How to set default browser manually with file or registry modification

You can do potentially do this via Group Policy:

Unfortunately, no simple Group Policy switch exists to do the trick, and the entire procedure is a bit longwinded. First, you have to manually set Internet Explorer as the default on a reference machine. Click Start and then Settings > System > Default apps. Under Web browser, you can configure Internet Explorer as the default.

Next, you have to export this setting to an XML file with the DISM tool that is shipped with Windows 10:
Dism /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:\\server\share\defaultassociations.xml
This commands exports all file associations on your reference computer to an XML file on a network share. Thus, you have to make sure that you didn’t modify other app associations that you don’t want to deploy in your network. By the way, you can also use the method described here to set Chrome or Firefox as the default browser.

Finally, you can deploy this XML file with the Group Policy Set a default associations configuration file, which is located in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.

(Source: Set Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows 10 with Group Policy)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Path variable for default browser in Windows

Windows – How to set default browser manually with file or registry modification

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