2 Methods to Disable InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge

InPrivate browsing in Microsoft Edge is similar to Chrome’s Incognito mode. It allows you to browse in a secure and private window without storing cache, cookies, or browsing history. It’s good for browsing the web privately but if you don’t need it for some reason, this guide will help disable the InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge Chromium.

This tutorial will discuss two methods to disable the InPrivate Browsing feature in Edge. The first one is pretty easy and involves executing a command in the Command Prompt. However, we have another method that involves modifying the Registry Editor. If you don’t have much clue about this, it is recommended that you proceed with the first method itself. With that said, here are the steps to disable InPrivate browsing in Microsoft Edge.

Method 1: Via Command Prompt

1. Open Command Prompt and run it as an administrator. To do so, click Windows Icon > search for cmd > right-click and select Run as administrator.
   
2. Now paste the following command in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter:

   REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v InPrivateModeAvailability /t REG_DWORD /d 1

   

3. You will get “The Operation completed successfully” as output.
4. Restart the browser and the New InPrivate window option will disappear from the Edge browser’s menu.

If you want to use a different search engine in your web browser, here is how you can change the default search engine in Microsoft Edge.

Revert the Changes

To bring back the InPrivate Window, launch Command Prompt as an admin and enter the below command:

REG DELETE HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge /v InPrivateModeAvailability /f

Method 2: Via Registry Editor

The Registry Editor contains the keys to all system settings in Windows. You can tweak the Registry to add or remove and enable or disable features in the OS. Let’s see how to disable and re-enable the InPrivate window in Microsoft Edge.

1. Click the Windows icon, and hit Windows+R to open the Run dialog box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
   
2. Copy-paste the below location to the address bar of the Registry Editor:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

3. From the left menu bar, right-click on Microsoft, select New > Key, and rename it to Edge.
4. Click the Edge key, right-click at an empty area in the right-hand pane, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
   
5. Rename this new DWORD as InPrivateModeAvailability,
6. Double-click on the InPrivateModeAvailability DWORD and change the Value data to 1.
   
7. That’s it. Now restart your PC and open the Edge browser. You’ll see the InPrivate Mode being greyed out.

You can’t only enable and turn off the InPrivate browsing but also customize the start-up action on the Microsoft Edge browser.

Re-Enable InPrivate Mode

Changing the AllowInPrivate value to 1 from 0 under MicrosftEdge > Main will restore the feature.