#2347 URL context menu lists an uninstalled Microsoft Edge

[Sworddragon]

Since early this year it is possible to officially uninstall Microsoft Edge in the European Economic Area and I took the opportunity to do so (Microsoft Edge Update and Microsoft Edge WebView2 still can't be uninstalled). But what I noticed then (and which is still the case in KeePass 2.57.1) is after making a right click on any stored entry and going to the URL(s) submenu Microsoft Edge is still listed there.

To give a better example on how this looks here is the submenu on my system where Firefox is the only installed browser:

Open
Copy

---

Open with Firefox
Open with Firefox (Private)
Open with Microsoft Edge

(anything has a preceding icon except Microsoft Edge)

[Sworddragon]

Edit: I forgot to mention that I see this here on a Windows 10 22H2 (64 bit).

[Dominik Reichl]

I just tried to reproduce this with an up-to-date Windows 11 24H2 system, but failed, because Microsoft Edge doesn't uninstall (the 'Uninstall' command is there, not grayed out, but it doesn't do anything).

Attached you can find a 'GetEdgeInfo.bat' script, which creates an 'EdgeInfo.zip' file containing various information about Edge and its registration. It would be great if you could run the script and post the resulting 'EdgeInfo.zip' file here.

Thanks and best regards,
Dominik

[Sworddragon]

I just tried to reproduce this with an up-to-date Windows 11 24H2 system, but failed, because Microsoft Edge doesn't uninstall (the 'Uninstall' command is there, not grayed out, but it doesn't do anything).

I have often seen reports of others and even seen it myself that uninstalling Microsoft Edge often misbehaves despite this being explicitly regulated by the EU which took effect this year. On one Windows 11 system that I maintain the uninstall button was grayed out until Microsoft Edge was at least started once then (an eventual manual update check in Microsoft Edge might actually have triggered this). But your case is a bit different so it might not work. I also assume your system is correctly setup to be in the European Economic Area (e.g. Germany) to qualify to being able to uninstall Microsoft Edge.

Attached you can find a 'GetEdgeInfo.bat' script, which creates an 'EdgeInfo.zip' file containing various information about Edge and its registration. It would be great if you could run the script and post the resulting 'EdgeInfo.zip' file here.

Unfortunately I can't do this here with the current security policy so we might have to wait until the uninstall button works in the future (e.g. randomly after a cumulative update or any other event) or just to ignore this issue.

[Paul]

You can run the commands manually.

1. Create a temporary directory somewhere. e.g. C:\kptemp
2. Open a Command Prompt. Win R cmd Enter
3. Change to your temporary directory: cd C:\kptemp
4. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet HKLM_SMI.reg /y
5. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet HKCU_SMI.reg /y
6. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\microsoft-edge HKCR_URL.reg /y
7. Type (copy/paste): DIR "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft" /B /S > Dir_Microsoft.txt
8. In Explorer, browse to the temporary directory and select all the files.
9. Right click, Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
10. Attach the zip to a post.
11. Delete the temporary directory.

cheers, Paul

[Sworddragon]

On checking if something specific is in those locations:

1. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet HKLM_SMI.reg /y

There are 2 keys ("Firefox-random_characters" and "IEXPLORE.EXE") with one or more subkeys each.

1. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet HKCU_SMI.reg /y

The same as above just that the key "IEXPLORE.EXE" is missing.

1. Type (copy/paste): Reg.exe EXPORT HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\microsoft-edge HKCR_URL.reg /y

The "(Standard)" entry contains "URL:microsoft-edge" and the REG_SZ entry "URL Protocol" is empty. Otherwise there are only subkeys going to "shell -> open -> command" and the "(Standard)" entry contains "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\pwahelper.exe --launch-edge-store-page".

1. Type (copy/paste): DIR "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft" /B /S > Dir_Microsoft.txt

The directories "Internet Explorer" and "Microsoft" (with several Edge-related subdirectories) are there - but the latter is not surprising since WebView 2 and Microsoft Edge Update are still installed. But the "Edge" subdirectory is also still there with some remains (2.25 MB) and one of them is "Application -> pwahelper.exe" from the registry entry above. If this isn't what you wanted to look for feel free to say so as I would prefer to not give a recursive listing.

[Dominik Reichl]

Ok, that's probably sufficient, thanks!

I've now added a detection for an uninstalled Edge. If Edge has been uninstalled, it should now no longer appear in the 'URL(s)' menu.

Here's the latest development snapshot for testing:
https://keepass.info/filepool/KeePass_241018.zip

Thanks and best regards,
Dominik

[Sworddragon]

I actually kind of thought this ticket goes into a direction where this might be just an Edge-uninstaller bug - leaving simply too much remains and thus KeePass working correctly in this case. I would have even been fine with that, but that more complex detections are used/implemented will help in such cases.

Nonetheless, thanks for all the work and the patch. I will test it in the future and report back if something behaves unexpectedly.

[Sworddragon]

I have tested this now with KeePass 2.58 and all is working fine. I only see the entries for "Open/Copy" and Open with Firefox/Open with Firefox (Private)".

I feared the information given by me might not have been enough but good to see that it probably was. Thanks again for doing all the work and fixing this issue.