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Setting Google as the default search engine in MS Edge in 1703 using GPO

Posted on April 12, 2017August 18, 2017 by Jörgen Nilsson

In Windows 10 1703 we have some new really great new Group Policy settings for Microsoft Edge, the most important making it possible to sync favorites between Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. We can also set the default search enginge to something else than Bing with group policies.

To do this we first need to create an .xml file that complies with the Opensearch 1.1 framework https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/dev-guide/browser/search-provider-discovery and we need to host that file on a Webserver that the clients can reach and it must use HTTPS.

Update!

This can be done in two ways, the easiest one that I overlooked is to actually use the opensearch.xml file hosted by Google! Method 2 still works, Thanks for the comment on this post!

Method 1

The URL is https://www.google.com/searchdomaincheck?format=opensearch then we don’t have to host any .xml file of our own.

We simply add that to the Group Policy settings and we are done!

Set default search enginge_1

Method 2

Here is an .xml file that can be used to set the default search engine to Google instead of Bing using a group policy, it can be downloaded here: Opensearch.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">

<ShortName>Google</ShortName>

<Description>Search Google</Description>

<Url method="get" type="text/html"

template="https://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}"/>

</OpenSearchDescription>

We then need to place that on a webserver reachable from the clients that use HTTPS, in my lab I put it on my SCCM server under Opensearch and called it opensearch.xml as well.

XML File

Then we configure the Group Policy setting to point to the .XML file we added above.

Set default search enginge

When logging on the a computer which the group policy is applied to, you can if you are fast enough see that the search engine changes from Bing to Google under Settings\advanced settings.

Google default search engingeThis can of course be used to change the search engine to something else than Google as well, just create an .xml file that points to that search engine instead and make sure it supports Opensearch 1.1.

Thanks to my colleague Sassan for testing and supplying the .XML file!

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Windows 10 1703
  • Windows10
  • 15 thoughts on “Setting Google as the default search engine in MS Edge in 1703 using GPO”

    1. Dave says:
      April 12, 2017 at 5:58 pm

      So you *have* to use a webserver? No way to do that locally? This is a nightmare.

      Reply
    2. Anderson Cassimiro says:
      April 12, 2017 at 8:15 pm

      Couldn’t you use the one hosted on Google?

      This is the address: https://www.google.com/searchdomaincheck?format=opensearch

      Reply
      1. Jörgen Nilsson says:
        April 13, 2017 at 9:52 am

        Hi,
        Indeed you can! works great! thanks for the headsup will update the blog post.
        Regards,
        Jörgen

        Reply
    3. Slinky Dog says:
      April 12, 2017 at 11:41 pm

      Can be done without webs server??

      Reply
    4. Michaël says:
      June 2, 2017 at 2:25 pm

      I tried the 2 solutions on a client computer running on Windows 10 Education 1703 but search engine doesn’t change. I see the parameter applied by GPO in the registry but I still have Bing as default…

      Reply
    5. Jeff says:
      June 2, 2017 at 5:38 pm

      I just tried adding https://www.google.com/searchdomaincheck?format=opensearch to the GPO and it worked great on Windows 10 Education 1703 for me. Thanks for the info.

      Reply
    6. Junaid says:
      July 25, 2017 at 11:14 pm

      Tried method one but didnt work still bing is default search. (checked and confirmed that GP is applied)

      Reply
    7. bubu says:
      October 1, 2017 at 5:15 pm

      Awsome! Thx Jörgen and Anderson Cassimiro.

      Reply
    8. ST says:
      January 11, 2018 at 4:51 am

      This doesn’t work.
      I’ve got machines on Windows 10 1703 and I’ve set the GPO settings ‘Set default search engine’ and ‘Configure Additional search Engines’ but neither make a difference
      I put in “https://www.google.com.au/searchdomaincheck?format=opensearch” without the quotes and nothing changes.
      honestly don’t know what i’m missing here

      Reply
      1. Dan says:
        February 11, 2019 at 2:07 am

        you need to wrap it inside parenthesis

        Reply
        1. Marv says:
          September 30, 2022 at 11:42 am

          Nope, doesn’t work here on 21H2.

          It seems like only a very limited amount of settings is getting applied properly.

          Reply
    9. Pingback: [SOLVED] | google default search engine edge gpo - 2019 Expertrec
    10. John de Bever says:
      October 8, 2019 at 8:10 pm

      Great article. Even now still valid. I wonder if I could also configure the default homepage in the same XML. Like https://www.itexperience.net/2019/10/06/how-to-set-homepage-in-edge-windows-10-1909/
      It would be great to have one xml eventually that contains all settings in open format

      Reply
      1. Jörgen Nilsson says:
        October 31, 2019 at 2:35 pm

        Hi,
        No you need to do that using a policy instead…
        /Jörgen

        Reply
    11. BT says:
      December 14, 2020 at 4:22 pm

      Hi.. does this still work? I’m getting below error Edge Chromium settings
      Version 87.0.664.60 (Official build) (64-bit)

      DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL
      “https://www.google.com/searchdomaincheck?format=opensearch”
      Platform
      Device
      Mandatory
      Error

      Reply

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    My name is Jörgen Nilsson and I work as a Senior Consultant at Onevinn in Malmö, Sweden. This is my blog where I will share tips and stuff for my own and everyone elses use on Enterprise Mobility and Windows related topics.
    All code is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties.

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