How to Backup and Restore Everything in Microsoft Edge in Windows  

AmigaRoots said:

Edge versions: not sure. That Windows installation is gone now. I only have the Edge backup.
Edge instances: closed, but I'll re-check and retry later.
The last one is tricky. I did sign in at some point, in the Edge Settings/Sync section and signed out later. Not sure if that is the same as using a Microsoft account on Windows instead of a local one.

It would be for signing into the profile in Microsoft Edge with a Microsoft account or not. If so, it will not remain signed in to the Microsoft account unless the backup was restored to the same account in Windows 10.

Bree said:

@Brink, if you want to restore an Edge profile to another machine shouldn't you also export the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge\PreferenceMACs and import it?

Thank you Bree. I'll have to do some testing to help verify.

Bree said:

Make sure you test the restore on a different machine from the one you exported from, if you restore to the same machine then it already has that key.

I've just rebuilt one of my machines and successfully imported my Edge profile from the old build. I needed the User Data folder and that key to do it.

Hello Bree,

For the test, I reset Microsoft Edge to default on the laptop, and backed up the items from my desktop with two profiles (1. MS and 2. non MS) in Edge to restore to the laptop.

I tested with and without the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge\PreferenceMACs registry key along with the Edge folder to compare.

I didn't see any difference. Both ways had all profiles show in Edge on the laptop when restored. Both ways still required me to sign in to the MS profile.

What differences did you see for me to compare with?

Bree said:

I can't say as I didn't try it without exporting and importing the registry key. As Edge is Chromium based I looked up how to transfer Google Chrome profiles and adapted the instructions I found here. It said the key was needed...

Move Google Chrome profiles to a new computer | Work Consultants

Interesting. If you have time, could you test without the key to see if you see the same in Edge?

Bree said:

I suspect I won't see any differences as I don't use any extensions. That key contains amongst other things \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings which may be relevant for profiles that use extensions.

I went ahead and included the registry key as part of the backup in the tutorial to be safe. Thank you again Bree.