How to Disable Printing in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10?

Microsoft Edge is a cross-platform web browser that was introduced with Microsoft Windows 10. This was made to replace the older Internet Explorer web browser for Windows operating systems. The printing feature is available in most of the applications in Windows. Microsoft Edge allows users to print web pages, PDF files, or any other content. However, some organizations just allow users to view content in the browser but not download or print them. An administrator can disable the printing feature in Microsoft Edge.

Disabling Printing for Legacy Microsoft Edge

The Legacy Microsoft Edge is the HTML-based browser that comes as a default browser with Windows 10. There are several companies or schools that will be still using the Legacy version of Microsoft Edge. The policy setting for this browser is already available in your system, unlike for the new Microsoft Edge.

Method 1: Using the Local Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy Editor is a feature of Windows that allows users to control the working environment of their computer. Windows 10 included a new policy setting that can enable or disable users from printing web content in Microsoft Edge. The requirement for this specific setting is Windows 10 1809 or later.

However, the Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education Editions. If you are using the Windows Home Edition, then skip this method and try out the Registry method.

1. Press the Windows and R keys together on your keyboard to open a Run command box. Now type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter key to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

   

2. In this window, navigate to the following category path:

   User Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Microsoft Edge\

   

   Note: The setting can be found in both categories. You can set it for a computer or a specific user.

3. Double-click on the setting named “Allow printing” and it will open in another window. Now change the toggle option from Not Configured to Disabled.

   

4. Lastly, click on the Apply/Ok button to save the changes. This will disable the printing feature in Microsoft Edge.
5. You can always enable it back by changing the toggle option back to Not Configured or Enabled in step 3.

Method 2: Using the Registry Editor

The Windows Registry is a database that stores all low-level settings of your operating system. This is the alternative to the Group Policy Editor method. Unlike the Group Policy Editor method, this requires a few extra steps from the user to manually create the missing key/value for that specific setting. This is also the only available method for Windows Home users. Follow the below steps to disable the printing feature in Microsoft Edge.

Note: You can create a backup of your Registry before making any new changes.

1. Press the Windows and R keys together to open a Run command box. Now type “regedit” in it and press the Enter key to open Registry Editor. Click on the Yes button for the UAC (User Account Control) prompt.

   

2. In this window, navigate to the following registry path:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MicrosoftEdge\Main

   Note: The value can be created and set in both the Current Machine and the Current User hives. The path will be the same, but the hive will be different.

3. Right-click on the right pane and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Name this value as “AllowPrinting” and save it.

   

4. Now double-click on the value to open it and then change the value data to 0.
   Note: Value data 1 will enable printing and value data 0 will disable the printing.

   

5. Once you are done with all the above steps, make sure you restart your system to apply the changes. This will disable the printing in Microsoft Edge.
6. If you ever want to enable the printing back again, just change the value data to 1 or remove the value from the Registry.

Disabling Printing for New Microsoft Edge

The new and latest Microsoft Edge browser is based on Chromium. It was released in January 2020 and it is available for all new operating systems. However, you need to download it on your system to replace it with the Legacy Microsoft Edge. The methods used for Legacy Microsoft Edge will not work on the new Microsoft Edge.

Method 1: Using the Registry Editor

For the new Microsoft Edge browser, it is easier to use the Registry Editor method because the Group Policy settings for this may not be available. You don’t need to download or install the Policy files for this and it works on all editions of Windows. One wrong configuration in the Registry can cause a lot of issues in the system. However, by following the below steps carefully, you can configure it without any worries.

1. Press the Windows and R key combination on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. Now type “regedit” and press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor. Click on the Yes button for UAC prompt.

   

2. Navigate to the Edge key in the Registry Editor:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

3. If the Edge key is missing, you can simply create it by right-clicking on the Microsoft key and choosing the New > Key option. Name the key as “Edge“.

   

4. Now right-click on the right pane of the Edge key and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Name this new value as “PrintingEnabled“.

   

5. Double-click on the value to open it up and change the value data to 0.
   Note: The value data 0 is for disabling and value data 1 is for enabling.

   

6. Finally, when you are done with the above steps, make sure you restart the system to apply these changes. This will disable the printing feature in the new Microsoft Edge browser.
7. You can always enable it back by simply removing this newly created value from the Registry. You can also change the value data to 1 to enable the printing.

Method 2: Using the Local Group Policy Editor

We all know that configuring a setting in the Group Policy Editor is much easier than the Registry Editor. However, the old policy settings don’t work on the New Microsoft Edge browser. You have to download the latest policy files for the new browser and save them to your system. This will take some extra steps to accomplish the task compared to the Registry Editor method:

Note: If you are using the Windows Home operating system, then you can not apply this method to your system.

1. Go to the Microsoft site to download the Policy files for the new Microsoft Edge. You can select the version, build, platform, and then click on the GET POLICY FILES.

   

2. Once the files are downloaded, you can extract the file by using the WinRAR as shown below:

   

3. Inside the downloaded folder, navigate to the “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates\windows\admx“.
4. Now you need to copy the “msedge.admx” and “msedge.adml” (Inside the language folder) and paste these files into the “C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions“.

   

   Note: The language file inside the folder must be copied into your language folder.

5. You may need to restart your system after doing this because it takes a while to appear in the Group Policy Editor window.
6. Now you can open a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R buttons on your keyboard and then open the Group Policy Editor by typing “gpedit.msc” in it.

   

7. Navigate to the new policy setting that you just copied to your system file:

   Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Microsoft Edge\ Printing\

   

8. Double-click on a setting named “Enable printing” to open it and then change the toggle option from Not Configured to Disabled.

   

9. Click on the Apply or Ok button to save the changes. This will disable the printing for the new Microsoft Edge browser.
10. You can always enable the printing again by changing the toggle option back to Not Configured or Enabled in step 8.