Set the release channel search order preference (deprecated)

Computer and userIntune-readyReleaseChannelPreference

Supported on Microsoft Edge version 87, Windows 7 or later

155.0.4283.62

What it does

DEPRECATED: This policy is deprecated. It is currently supported but will become obsolete in a future release. This policy is deprecated in favor of ChannelSearchKind, which has the same functionality, and will become obsolete in 124 release. The default channel search order is WebView2 Runtime, Beta, Dev, and Canary. To reverse the default search order, set this policy to 1. To set the value for the release channel preference, provide a Value name and Value pair. Set value name to the Application User Model ID or the executable file name. You can use the "*" wildcard as value name to apply to all applications. Example value: Name: *, Value: 1

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Set value name to the Application User Model ID or the executable file name. You can use the "*" wildcard as value name to apply to all applications.	List of values	`Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference`	Name and value pairs

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\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference]

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: Set the release channel search order preference (deprecated)
# Name: ReleaseChannelPreference
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedgewebview2.admx

Clear-RegistryKeyValues -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference'

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: ReleaseChannelPreferenceDesc

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_msedgewebview2/ReleaseChannelPreference

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: Set the release channel search order preference (deprecated)
# Name: ReleaseChannelPreference
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedgewebview2.admx

$keyPath = 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference'
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $keyPath) {
    $propertyNames = (Get-Item -LiteralPath $keyPath).Property
    if ($propertyNames.Count -gt 0) {
        $reasons.Add('Key should be empty: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference') | 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: Set the release channel search order preference (deprecated)
# Name: ReleaseChannelPreference
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: msedgewebview2.admx

Clear-RegistryKeyValues -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference'

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: ReleaseChannelPreference
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.WebView2
Template file: msedgewebview2.admx
Release: Microsoft Edge 155.0.4283.62 · file set 0a733b0040dbbf02…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="Both" displayName="$(string.ReleaseChannelPreference)" explainText="$(string.ReleaseChannelPreference_Explain)" key="Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2" name="ReleaseChannelPreference" presentation="$(presentation.ReleaseChannelPreference)" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87" />
      <elements>
        <list explicitValue="true" id="ReleaseChannelPreferenceDesc" key="Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\WebView2\ReleaseChannelPreference" />
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="ReleaseChannelPreference" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions"><listBox refId="ReleaseChannelPreferenceDesc">Set value name to the Application User Model ID or the executable file name. You can use the "*" wildcard as value name to apply to all applications.</listBox></presentation>

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:category:WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings
<category displayName="$(string.WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings_group)" name="WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:microsoft_edge_webview2" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:category:microsoft_edge_webview2
<category displayName="$(string.microsoft_edge_webview2)" name="microsoft_edge_webview2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:definition:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87)" name="SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:category:WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings
<category displayName="$(string.WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings_group)" name="WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:microsoft_edge_webview2" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:WebView2LoaderOverrideSettings_group">Loader Override Settings</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:category:microsoft_edge_webview2
<category displayName="$(string.microsoft_edge_webview2)" name="microsoft_edge_webview2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:microsoft_edge_webview2">Microsoft Edge WebView2</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:definition:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87)" name="SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.WebView2:SUPPORTED_WIN7_V87">Microsoft Edge version 87, Windows 7 or later</string></strings>