Browser Edge Chromium



Microsoft Edge is the default web browser in Windows 10. The latest version of Edge uses Chromium, the same technology used in Google Chrome. Compatible with modern websites, Edge provides a great alternative to Internet Explorer. In this webinar, we provide an overview of Edge and discuss JAWS web navigation features. Microsoft Chromium Edge is an entirely new web browser and it comes with a series of improvements, including support for Chrome extensions, picture in picture mode and a lot more.

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WebDriver allows developers to create automated tests that simulate user interaction. WebDriver tests and simulations differ from JavaScript unit tests in the following ways.

  • Accesses functionality and information not available to JavaScript running in browsers.
  • Simulates user events or OS-level events more accurately.
  • Manages multiple windows, tabs, and webpages in a single test session.
  • Runs multiple sessions of Microsoft Edge on a specific machine.

The following section describes how to get started with WebDriver for Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

Browser Edge Chromium

Install Microsoft Edge (Chromium)

Ensure you install Microsoft Edge (Chromium). To confirm that you have Microsoft Edge (Chromium) installed, navigate to edge://settings/help, and verify the version number is version 75 or later.

Download Microsoft Edge Driver

To begin automating tests, use the following steps to ensure that the WebDriver version you install matches your browser version.

  1. Find your version of Microsoft Edge.

    1. Navigate to edge://settings/help.

  2. Navigate to Microsoft Edge Driver.

  3. Navigate to Get the latest version.

  4. Choose the build of channel that matches your version number of Microsoft Edge.

    The Get the latest version section on the Microsoft Edge Driver webpage

Choose a WebDriver language binding

The last component you must download is a language-specific client driver to translate your code (Python, Java, C#, Ruby, JavaScript) into commands the Microsoft Edge Driver runs in Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

Download the WebDriver language binding of your choice. The Microsoft Edge team recommends Selenium 4.00-alpha07 or later, because it supports Microsoft Edge (Chromium). However, you may control Microsoft Edge (Chromium) in all older versions of Selenium, including the current stable Selenium 3 release.

Important

If you previously automated or tested Microsoft Edge (Chromium) using ChromeDriver and ChromeOptions classes, your WebDriver code does not run on Microsoft Edge Version 80 or later. To solve the problem, update your tests to use the EdgeOptions class and download Microsoft Edge Driver.

Use Selenium 3

If you already use Selenium 3, you may have existing browser tests and want to add coverage for Microsoft Edge (Chromium) without changing your version of Selenium. To use Selenium 3 to write automated tests for both Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) and Microsoft Edge (Chromium), install the Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge package to use the updated driver. The EdgeDriver and EdgeDriverService classes included in the tools are fully compatible with the built-in equivalents in Selenium 4.

Use the following steps to add the Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge and Selenium 3 to your project.

Edge

Add the Microsoft.Edge.SeleniumTools and Selenium.WebDriver packages to your .NET project using the NuGet CLI or Visual Studio.

Use pip to install the msedge-selenium-tools and selenium packages.

If your Java project uses Maven, copy and paste the following dependency to your pom.xml file to add msedge-selenium-tools-java.

The Java package is also available to download directly on the Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge Releases page.

Use npm to install the edge-selenium-tools and selenium-webdriver packages.

Automate Microsoft Edge (Chromium) with WebDriver

To automate a browser using WebDriver, you must first start a WebDriver session using your preferred WebDriver language binding. A session is a single running instance of a browser controlled using WebDriver commands. Start a WebDriver session to launch a new browser instance. The launched browser instance remains open until you close the WebDriver session.

The following content walks you through using Selenium to start a WebDriver session with Microsoft Edge (Chromium). You may run the examples using either Selenium 3 or 4. To use with Selenium 3, the Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge package must be installed.

Automate Microsoft Edge (Chromium)

Selenium uses the EdgeDriver class to manage a Microsoft Edge (Chromium) session. To start a session and automate Microsoft Edge (Chromium), create a new EdgeDriver object and pass it an EdgeOptions object with the UseChromium property set to true.

The EdgeDriver class only supports Microsoft Edge (Chromium), and doesn't support Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML). For basic usage, you may create an EdgeDriver without providing EdgeOptions.

Note

If your IT admin has set the DeveloperToolsAvailability policy to 2, Microsoft Edge Driver is blocked from driving Microsoft Edge (Chromium), because the driver uses the Microsoft Edge DevTools. Ensure the DeveloperToolsAvailability policy is set to 0 or 1 to automate Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

Choose Specific Browser Binaries (Chromium-Only)

You may start a WebDriver session with specific Microsoft Edge (Chromium) binaries. For example, you may run tests using the Microsoft Edge preview channels such as Microsoft Edge Beta.

Customize the Microsoft Edge Driver Service

When you use the EdgeOptions class to create an EdgeDriver class instance, it creates and launches the appropriate EdgeDriverService class for either Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) or Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

If you want to create an EdgeDriverService, use the CreateChromiumService() method to create one configured for Microsoft Edge (Chromium). The CreateChromiumService() method is useful when you need to add customizations. For example, the following code starts verbose log output.

Note

You do not need to provide the EdgeOptions object when you pass EdgeDriverService to the EdgeDriver instance. The EdgeDriver class uses the default options for either Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) or Microsoft Edge (Chromium) based on the service you provide.
However, if you want to provide both EdgeDriverService and EdgeOptions classes, ensure that both are configured for the same version of Microsoft Edge. For example, you may use a default Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) EdgeDriverService class and Chromium properties in the EdgeOptions class. The EdgeDriver class throws an error to prevent using different versions.

Chromium

When you use Python, the Edge object creates and manages the EdgeService. To configure the EdgeService, pass extra arguments to the Edge object as indicated in the following code.

Use the createDefaultService() method to create an EdgeDriverService configured for Microsoft Edge (Chromium). Use Java system properties to customize driver services in Java. For example, the following code uses the 'webdriver.edge.verboseLogging' property to turn on verbose log output.

When you use JavaScript, create and configure a Service with the ServiceBuilder class. Optionally, you may pass the Service object to the Driver object, which starts (and stops) the service for you.
To configure the Service, run another method in the ServiceBuilder class before you use the build() method. Then pass the service as a parameter in the Driver.createSession() method.

Use Chromium-Specific Options

If you set the UseChromium property to true, you may use the EdgeOptions class to access the same Chromium-specific properties and methods that are used when you automate other Chromium browsers.

Note

If the UseChromium property is set to true, you are not able to use properties and methods for Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML).

Other WebDriver installation options

Chocolatey

If you use Chocolatey as your package manager, run the following command to install the Microsoft Edge Driver.

Reset Edge Browser Chromium

For more information, navigate to Selenium Chromium Edge Driver on Chocolatey.

Docker

If you use Docker, run the following command to download a pre-configured image with Microsoft Edge (Chromium) and Microsoft Edge Driver pre-installed.

For more information, navigate to the msedgedriver container on Docker Hub.

Next steps

For more information about WebDriver and how to write automated WebDriver tests using Selenium, navigate to the Selenium documentation.

Getting in touch with the Microsoft Edge DevTools team

The Microsoft Edge team is eager to hear your feedback about using WebDriver, Selenium, and Microsoft Edge. To send the team your questions and comments, choose the Send Feedback icon in the Microsoft Edge DevTools or send a tweet @EdgeDevTools.

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This article describes the release cadence and anticipated release schedule for Microsoft Edge.

Release cadence

Edge Browser Chromium Based

Microsoft provides four options, called channels, to manage how often Microsoft Edge is updated with new features. The Microsoft Edge team plans to push public updates to the Beta and Stable channels every six weeks. For more information about our channels, their release cycle, and support levels, see the Channel overview.

Note

Starting with Stable channel version 94, Microsoft Edge is moving to a 4-week major release cycle cadence. However, we recognize that enterprise customers who manage complex environments need more time to plan and test Microsoft Edge updates. To help our enterprise customers who need an extended timeline to manage updates, Microsoft Edge will offer an Extended Stable option aligned to a longer, 8-week major release cycle; this option will only be available for customers with managed environments.

Release schedule

The following table lists the planned release dates for the Beta and Stable channels.

Note

Release dates are approximate and might vary based on build status.

Microsoft Edge releases

The following table only tracks and provides information for major releases in both channels.

VersionRelease statusBeta Channel
Release week
Stable Channel
Release week
88Released
Version
09-Dec-2020
88.0.705.18
21-Jan-2021
88.0.705.50
89Released
Version
03-Feb-2021
89.0.774.18
04-Mar-2021
89.0.774.45
90Released
Version
16-Mar-2021
90.0.818.8
Week of 15-Apr-2021
90.0.818.39
91Target releaseWeek of 27-Apr-2021Week of 27-May-2021
92Target releaseWeek of 08-Jun-2021Week of 22-Jul-2021
93Target releaseWeek of 03-Aug-2021Week of 02-Sep-2021
94Target releaseWeek of 01-Sep-2021Week of 23-Sep-2021
95Target releaseWeek of 28-Sep-2021Week of 21-Oct-2021
96Target releaseWeek of 26-Oct-2021Week of 18-Nov-2021
97Target releaseWeek of 30-Nov-2021Week of 06-Jan-2022

Release Process

The trigger for Beta and Stable major releases is an equivalent Chromium release.

Progressive rollouts

The date reference (Released/Release week) for the Stable channel references the beginning of the progressive roll out.

We use a progressive rollout model which means that new release availability for any given device could be staggered over upcoming days. For more information, see Progressive rollouts for Microsoft Edge Stable Channel.

See also