From Windows 95 to Windows 8/8.1, Internet Explorer had been the default web browser of the Windows operating system for two decades. Over the years, Microsoft Internet Explorer became bloated and insecure, making security-conscious users look for third-party web browsers.
UPDATE on 20/06/2019: Microsoft Edge is now officially available for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Visit the official Edge download page to download the Edge installer.
With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced Edge, a modern web browser built from scratch, and is the default web browser in Windows 10.
Microsoft Edge, the new browser from Microsoft, is part of Windows 10, and can’t be downloaded separately from Store.
Like Google Chrome and Firefox, the Edge browser is fast and loads pages much faster compared to Internet Explorer. Besides that, it offers a clean interface that most users love. The browser recently got support for extensions, and there are a couple of useful extensions already available for the new web browser from Microsoft.
Is Microsoft Edge available for Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1?
When Microsoft introduced the Edge browser for the first time, a significant number of PC users running Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 were expecting Microsoft to release Edge for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 as well.
The truth is that the current version of the Edge browser is not available for Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1. However, Microsoft is building a new Chromium-based Edge browser, and it will be available for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. We will update this guide when the new Edge is made available to Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1.
Is there a workaround to install legacy Edge on Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1?
NOTE: Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based Edge browser) is now officially available for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Visit our download Edge for Windows 7/8/8.1 article to download the Edge installer.
One can’t install the legacy Edge on Windows 7 as the Edge browser is built on the new Universal Windows Platform. The Universal Windows Platform was first introduced with Windows 8 as the Windows Runtime. So theoretically, it should be possible to install Edge on Windows 8/8.1, but then Edge is not officially or unofficially available for Windows 8 or 8.1 right now.
That said, there is a not so cool way out there to run Edge on Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1. You can run Edge on previous versions of Windows using free virtual machines. Visit this page of Microsoft to download Microsoft Edge virtual machine for VirtualBox, Windows Hyper-V, Vagrant, VMware (Windows & Mac), and Parallels (Mac only).
The download page also contains a link to the installation instructions page so that you can easily install the downloaded Edge virtual machine on your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 PC using above mentioned virtual machine software.
As said earlier, you cannot install the current version of Edge on Windows 7 or 8, but the upcoming Edge based on the Chromium browser can be installed on Windows 7/8. We will update the article once it’s available for the public.
Can I make my web browser look like Edge?
If you love the clean user interface of Edge and use Mozilla Firefox as the default browser, then you can make Mozilla Firefox look like Edge by installing the Edge for Firefox theme.
Sadly, the Edge theme is currently available for Firefox only. So, if you are a user of Internet Explorer, Chrome, or any web browser, you have no option but to upgrade your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 to get Edge.
What’s the best way to experience Edge?
The easiest and best way to experience Edge is to upgrade your PC to Windows 10 or get a new PC pre-installed with Windows 10.
Note that Windows 10 is no longer officially available as a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users, but most users who upgrade to Windows 10 are getting a free upgrade even today (December 2019).
daniella says
pls i how can i download microsoft edge on window 7 i have trying to download it is not doing
Nettie says
Not right that browser searches provide links to downloading Edge for earlier windows 7 & 8 versions, when the links open to platform notes stating Edge NOT available yet, for the earlier windows. I have a window 10 laptop purchased April 2020, and Edge never activated or worked correctly so I uninstalled. Tried downloading and using Edge on my older beautiful HP windows 8.1, and it worked okay, but too many bugs. Web pages including Google search that kept giving me errors. Guess Microsoft should have stuck with IE and kept upgrading it.
Millie says
What happens when I install edge on a windows 7 running internet explorer?
Will internet explorer be deleted or still be there and working if i want to use it?
raj menon says
Not all machines can run Windows 10. I went back to 8.1 when Asus decided not to support the model (K55VJ) I have been using. Never will I buy an Asus machine/mobile phone in my life.
John S says
Edge really not so great considering it’s only available on Win 10. many of us rely on a cross platform browser to sync bookmarks, history, passwords and continuance from one device to another. Unless your absolutely committed to Win 10 on all device. You will find Edge a bit isolated and not multi OS friendly. I think this is why Chrome is so popular because it runs on everything and syncs very easily. Personally, I think Microsoft dropped the ball on Edge not making it a cross OS platform browser. These days that just doesn’t work.