Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge

Computer and userIntune-readyEnhanceSecurityMode

Supported on Microsoft Edge version 98, Windows 7 or later

155.0.4283.62

What it does

This policy lets you enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge. If you set this policy to 'StandardMode', the enhanced mode is turned off, and Microsoft Edge falls back to its standard security mode. If you set this policy to 'BalancedMode', the security state is in balanced mode. If you set this policy to 'StrictMode', the security state is in strict mode. If you set this policy to 'BasicMode', the security state is in basic mode. Note: Sites that use WebAssembly (WASM) aren't supported on 32-bit systems when 'EnhanceSecurityMode' (Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge) is enabled. If you require access to a site that uses WASM, consider adding it to your exception list as described in https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2183321. Starting from Microsoft Edge version 113, 'BasicMode' is deprecated and is treated the same as 'BalancedMode'. It doesn't work in Microsoft Edge version 116. For detailed information about Enhanced Security Mode, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2185895. Policy options mapping: * StandardMode (0) = Standard mode * BalancedMode (1) = Balanced mode * StrictMode (2) = Strict mode * BasicMode (3) = (Deprecated) Basic mode Use the preceding information when configuring this policy.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

Security baselines

Microsoft's Microsoft Edge v151 Security Baseline sets this to Enabled, in its GPO “MSFT Edge Version 151 - Computer”.

Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge: Set to “Balanced mode” (1).

Read from the registry.pol files in the baselines' GPO backups, downloaded from Microsoft's Security Compliance Toolkit. All baselines

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge	Drop-down list	`EnhanceSecurityMode`	Standard mode`0` Balanced mode`1` Strict mode`2` (Deprecated) Basic mode`3`

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · Computer · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"EnhanceSecurityMode"=dword:00000000

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge
# Name: EnhanceSecurityMode
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedge.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge' -Name 'EnhanceSecurityMode' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.
The generated payload is incomplete because one or more ADMX element values were not supplied: EnhanceSecurityMode

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_msedge/EnhanceSecurityMode

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge
# Name: EnhanceSecurityMode
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedge.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge' -Name 'EnhanceSecurityMode' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 0
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\EnhanceSecurityMode') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge
# Name: EnhanceSecurityMode
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedge.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge' -Name 'EnhanceSecurityMode' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

History 37 retained releases

150.0.4078.8016 Jul 2026
- Already present in the first release ChangeIntel keeps.

36 later releases left it unchanged.

Template

Internal name: EnhanceSecurityMode
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.Edge
Template file: msedge.admx
Release: Microsoft Edge 155.0.4283.62 · file set 0a733b0040dbbf02…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="Both" displayName="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode)" explainText="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode_Explain)" key="Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" name="EnhanceSecurityMode" presentation="$(presentation.EnhanceSecurityMode)" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Edge:microsoft_edge" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.Edge:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98" />
      <elements>
        <enum id="EnhanceSecurityMode" valueName="EnhanceSecurityMode">
          <item displayName="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode_StandardMode)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="0" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode_BalancedMode)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="1" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode_StrictMode)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="2" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.EnhanceSecurityMode_BasicMode)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="3" />
            </value>
          </item>
        </enum>
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="EnhanceSecurityMode" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions"><dropdownList refId="EnhanceSecurityMode">Enhance the security state in Microsoft Edge</dropdownList></presentation>

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.Edge:category:microsoft_edge
<category displayName="$(string.microsoft_edge)" name="microsoft_edge" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.Edge:definition:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98)" name="SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.Edge:category:microsoft_edge
<category displayName="$(string.microsoft_edge)" name="microsoft_edge" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Edge:microsoft_edge">Microsoft Edge</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.Edge:definition:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98)" name="SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Edge:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V98">Microsoft Edge version 98, Windows 7 or later</string></strings>