How to Enable or Disable Graphics Hardware Acceleration in Microsoft Edge

What Is Hardware Acceleration?

Hardware acceleration is a built-in Edge feature. When it is on, Edge hands graphics and text rendering to your graphics card instead of doing the work on the CPU. That frees up processing cycles, so background programs and other browser tabs have more room to run.

The benefit is easiest to notice with video, animations, and pages with a lot of graphics. On a PC with a weak or very old GPU, the gain is smaller.

Why Disable Hardware Acceleration?

Hardware acceleration is on by default, and it works well for most people. Occasional performance problems still happen, so treat turning it off as a troubleshooting step, not a tuning tweak. Use it for stubborn display problems such as choppy video playback or blurry fonts.

Outdated graphics drivers and incompatible display adapters often cause these conflicts. Before you leave the setting off for good, update your graphics driver and test again. If the problem goes away after the update, turn acceleration back on.

Option 1Change Settings in Microsoft Edge

This method changes the setting through Edge itself. It applies only to your own user account and does not touch system-wide configuration. You open the Edge settings menu, go to the System and performance page, and switch the graphics option on or off.

The steps below show exactly where to click. After you change the toggle, Edge shows a Restart button. Click it so the change takes effect. Edge reopens your tabs after the restart.

If the toggle is greyed out or marked as managed by your organization, a policy is controlling it. That policy may be one set by an administrator, or one you create with the machine-wide method later in this guide. Settings in the browser cannot override it.

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Click the three-dot menu button (top right), then click Settings. You can also press Alt+F.
3. In the left panel, click System and performance. Then click System in the right panel. If you don't see a left panel, click the three-line menu button at the top left.
4. Find the option that says "Use graphics acceleration when available". Turn it On (default) or Off depending on what you need.
5. Close the Settings tab when done.

Option 2Change Settings for All Users Using Registry

⚠️ Admin privileges required

This method applies the configuration globally. It overrides the setting each user has chosen in their own copy of Edge. You need an administrator account, and Windows will ask you to confirm with a User Account Control prompt.

Windows Terminal and Registry Editor both accomplish this task. Pick one method below. The command does the same job as the manual registry edit, so you do not need to do both.

Always Turn On Hardware Acceleration for Everyone

To turn on Edge hardware acceleration for all user accounts, you add a specific registry value. You can do that from Windows Terminal or from Registry Editor. Once the value is in place, Edge uses the graphics card to render pages for every user profile on the machine.

To use Windows Terminal, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Select Terminal (Admin).
3. Click Yes when the User Account Control prompt appears. A terminal window opens with administrator rights.
4. Paste the command below and press Enter. The terminal should report that the operation completed successfully.
5. Close all Edge windows and open Edge again so it picks up the new policy.

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v HardwareAccelerationModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Alternatively, open Registry Editor (a built-in database for system configurations), navigate to the path below, and add the required value. Use the same value name and data that the command above sets.

1. Open the Start menu and search for Registry Editor.
2. Select Run as administrator, then click Yes at the prompt.
3. Go to the path shown below. If a key in that path is missing, right-click the parent key, choose New › Key, and name it to match the path.
4. Right-click an empty area in the right pane and choose New › DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it and set its data to match the command above.
5. Close Registry Editor and restart Edge.

Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

Always Turn Off Hardware Acceleration for Everyone

To turn off Edge hardware acceleration for all user accounts, you set a machine-wide rule that stops the browser from using the graphics card. This helps when the same display glitches affect everyone who uses the PC. You can enforce the rule with a single command in Windows Terminal, or by adding a DWORD value in Registry Editor.

To use Windows Terminal, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Start button.
2. Select Terminal (Admin) and click Yes at the User Account Control prompt.
3. Paste the command below and press Enter. The terminal should report that the operation completed successfully.
4. Close all Edge windows and reopen Edge. The graphics acceleration toggle in Edge settings should now be greyed out and managed by policy.

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v HardwareAccelerationModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Alternatively, open Registry Editor (a built-in database for system configurations), navigate to the path below, and add the required value. Use the same value name and data that the command above sets.

1. Open the Start menu and search for Registry Editor.
2. Select Run as administrator, then click Yes at the prompt.
3. Go to the path shown below. If a key in that path is missing, right-click the parent key, choose New › Key, and name it to match the path.
4. Right-click an empty area in the right pane and choose New › DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it and set its data to match the command above.
5. Close Registry Editor and restart Edge.

Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

Allow User Choice (Default)

To undo the machine-wide rule and give users control of the setting again, run the command below in Windows Terminal. Open the terminal as administrator first, using the same steps as above. If you added the value by hand in Registry Editor, you can also delete it there.

Restart Edge afterward. The graphics acceleration toggle in Edge settings should no longer be greyed out, and each user can choose their own setting.

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v HardwareAccelerationModeEnabled /f

Summary

Hardware acceleration in Microsoft Edge offloads rendering tasks to your graphics card. That makes the browser run much faster than it would relying on the central processor alone. Leave it on unless you are chasing a display problem, and update your graphics driver before you decide to keep it off.