Is there any way to still run Edge Legacy in Windows 10 (or 11)?

You used to be able to run both Edge Legacy and Edge Chromium by enabling the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\: Allowsxs (DWORD) set to 1

After the April 2021 update (19041.928), Edge Legacy was forcibly removed.

Someone figured out that if you copied the contents of the Edge Legacy application folder from either a backup of the March 2021 update (19041.867) or from a March 2021 ISO, you could run Edge Legacy again:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/mshig6/restoring_edge_legacy_after_april_2021_update

Somewhere between April 2021 and December 2021, that no longer worked. Edge Legacy exits immediately after launching it.


Here's where I'm at:

I'm on Windows 10 Pro x64 2004. I was on version 19041.630 (November 2020 update). I went to version 19041.1415 (December 2021 update).

Obviously, I lost Edge Legacy.


I uninstalled Edge Chromium:

Command prompt at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\83.0.478.64\Installer\

Run:
setup.exe --uninstall --system-level --force-uninstall


I added the regisry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\: Allowsxs (DWORD) set to 1


I copied the Edge Legacy program files back from the final published version from Microsoft (March 2021 update):

Delete:
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient_8wekyb3d8bbwe

March 2021 ISO:
https://isofiles.bd581e55.workers.de...d_2d7423d8.iso

Open .iso in WinRAR, extract:
sources\install.wim

Open install.wim in 7zip, extract:
1\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe
1\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Copy the above two folders to:
C:\Windows\SystemApps\


I reset the packages (restores default settings):

Delete:
C:\Users\[USERID]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe
C:\Users\[USERID]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Run PowerShell commands:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose}
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml” -Verbose}


That's all I can think to do. Edge Legacy does not run, it exits immediately after launching.

Here's an x64dbg log:
https://pastebin.com/R45sXGit


Is there some way to run Edge Legacy on a more recent version of Windows (such as the one that I'm on - 19041.1415) that I might be missing, such as a command line parameter or switch, a registry key, or a local policy? Or is it simply not possible to run Edge Legacy on more recent versions of Windows 10 or 11?

@Ceelix

Apparently, all the work arounds got killed first in April 2021, and again in the last Patch Tuesdays.
Even Github's work around no longer works.

It might be time to just give up and switch to another browser.
It doesn't have to be the new EDGE.

In fact, you can remove the new EDGE and block it from returning...
How to remove Microsoft Edge from Windows 10 | TechRadar

Ceelix said:

That's what I thought. Edge Legacy isn't my main browser but I really liked keeping it around as an alternate browser because most every up to date browser today (at least on Windows) is based on either Chromium or Mozilla. Edge Legacy was unique.

Yeah - when it came to battery life on tablets, legacy edge was far better than Edgium.