How to Enable or Disable Microsoft Edge Desktop Search Bar in Windows 11

How to Enable or Disable Microsoft Edge Desktop Search Bar

Let’s get started with the steps for the action you’d like to take: enabling or disabling the search 🔍 bar.

Enable Microsoft Edge Desktop Search Bar

You can enable the Microsoft Edge desktop search bar 🔍 in Windows 11 by editing the Windows Registry to add a new DWORD value. Open Registry Editor and go to 🗝️HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edgecopy to create a key named SearchbarAllowed set to 1. This adds a quick search box 🔍 directly to your desktop so you can look up web results without opening a browser window first.

To manually change the Microsoft Edge desktop search bar 🔍 setting, you must edit the Windows Registry (a database of configuration settings for Windows). This registry editing process requires administrator privileges to make changes to the system settings.

A quick warning: Messing up the registry can lead to significant issues. Back up your registry before you begin.

Follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.
3. Navigate to the following key in the Registry Editor:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
   If the EdgeUpdate key doesn't exist, you'll need to create it. Right-click on the Microsoft key, select New, then Key, and name it Edge.
4. Right-click on the Edge key in the left pane.
5. Select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Name the new value SearchbarAllowed.
7. Double-click on SearchbarAllowed.
8. To enable the search bar, set the Value data to 1.
9. Click OK.
10. Close the Registry Editor.
11. Restart Microsoft Edge for the changes to take effect.

Disable Microsoft Edge Desktop Search Bar

You can disable the Microsoft Edge desktop search bar in Windows 11 if you want to remove the search widget and free up screen space. Open Registry Editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge, and change the SearchbarAllowed value to 0. Restart your browser after updating the registry to make the search bar disappear from your screen completely.

This process requires administrator privileges to make changes within the registry.

A quick warning: Messing up the registry can lead to significant issues. Back up your registry before you begin.

Follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.
3. Navigate to the following key in the Registry Editor:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
   If the Edge key doesn't exist, you'll need to create it. Right-click on the Microsoft key, select New, then Key, and name it Edge.
4. Right-click on the Edge key in the left pane.
5. Select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Name the new value SearchbarAllowed.
7. Double-click on SearchbarAllowed.
8. To disable the search bar, set the Value data to 0.
9. Click OK.
10. Close the Registry Editor.
11. Restart Microsoft Edge for the changes to take effect.

Close Microsoft Edge for the desktop search bar changes to apply. Reopening Microsoft Edge ensures the new settings are active, which is important for the visual appearance of your desktop.

References:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#searchbarallowed

Summary

Controlling the Windows 11 desktop search bar feature requires changing specific keys inside the Windows Registry using an administrator account. Setting the SearchbarAllowed registry value to 1 turns the search bar on, while setting it to 0 turns it off. You must restart Microsoft Edge after making either change for the new desktop search settings to take effect.