How to Enable and Disable YouTube Restricted Mode in Microsoft Edge?

The YouTube Restricted Mode is a setting in YouTube that restricts the potentially mature content. This is a pretty useful feature for parents who wants to restrict YouTube for their kids. Many methods can grey out this setting and prevent users from changing it. This setting can be enabled on both browsers and applications. The users will also be unable to view the comments when the Restricted Mode is enabled. In this article, we will show you methods through which you can enable and disable the YouTube Restricted Mode on your device.

Method 1: Using the YouTube Settings

The YouTube Restricted Mode option can be found in the YouTube site settings. You can enable or disable this option with or without an account logged in. If you are logged in to your YouTube account, then the option will appear in the account’s context menu. However, if you are not logged in, then the option can be found in the Settings (three dots) context menu. Follow the below steps to enable or disable the YouTube Restricted Mode in Microsoft Edge:

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser by double-clicking on the shortcut or searching it through the Windows search feature.
2. Now go to the YouTube site and click on the Account Picture icon on the left top corner. Then click on the Restricted Mode option.

   

3. Now turn ON the toggle option for ACTIVATE RESTRICTED MODE option.

   

4. You can also disable the Restricted Mode by turning OFF the toggle option.

Method 2: Using the Registry Editor

The Windows Registry is another method to configure a specific setting in any application. If you tried the Local Group Policy Editor method, then your Registry will already have a configured value. However, if you are using this without using any other methods, then you will need to create the missing key and value for the setting. The setting can be configured in both the Current Machine and Current User hives. The path will be the same for both, only the hives will be different.

We have also included the registry backup step in the following steps. You can use it to create a registry backup for safety before making any new changes. If you don’t want to create a backup, then skip that particular step.

1. Open a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and R keys together on your keyboard. Here type “regedit” and press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor. If you get the UAC (User Account Control) prompt, then choose the Yes option.

   

2. You can also create a Registry backup before making any new changes. For that, click on the File menu in the menu bar and then choose the Export option in the list. Now provide the path where you want to save it and name the file. Finally, click on the Save button to complete the backup.

   

   Note: To recover a backup, you can click on the File menu and choose the Import option. Then select the backup file that you previously created.

3. In the Registry Editor window, go to the following location as shown:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

4. If the Edge key is missing, you can create it by right-clicking on the available key and choosing the New > Key option. Then name the key as “Edge“.

   

5. Now select the Edge key, right-click on the right pane and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Name the value as “ForceYouTubeRestrict“.

   

6. Double-click on the ForceYouTubeRestrict value and it will open a dialog box. Then you need to change the value data to 2.

   

   Note: Value data 0 is for Off and value data 1 is for moderate restriction.

7. Mostly this new change will be applied instantly to Microsoft Edge. If not, then you need to restart the browser first and if still not then reboot the system.
8. You can always go back to default settings by deleting the value from the Registry Editor.

Method 3: Using the Local Group Policy Editor

The Local Group Policy Editor is another method for configuring the YouTube Restricted Mode. They have included the policy setting for YouTube restriction in Group Policy Editor. It also included three different options when you enable it. Depending on your choice, it will change the setting for YouTube. This setting is only available in the latest policy files. If you already have the latest policy files for the latest Microsoft Edge, then skip downloading the files.

Note: This method will not work for Windows 10 Home users. That is because the Group Policy Editor isn’t available in the Windows 10 Home edition operating system.

1. First, open any browser and go to the Microsoft site. Then you need to select the version details of your Microsoft Edge and click on the GET POLICY FILES button.

   

2. Use the WinRAR application to extract the downloaded zip file as shown below.

   

3. Open the extracted folder and navigate to the “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates\windows\admx” path. Now copy the “msedge.admx” and “msedge.adml” files and then paste them into “C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions” folder.

   

   Note: The ADML file can be found in the language folder. Copy it from one language folder to another.

4. Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and R keys together on your keyboard. Now type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter key to open the Local Group Policy Editor window.

   

5. Go to the following path in the Local Group Policy Editor window as shown:

   Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Microsoft Edge\

   

6. Double-click on the setting named “Force minimum YouTube Restricted Mode” and it will open in another window. Now change the toggle option from Not Configured to Enabled as shown. You can also choose one of the three options from the list.

   

7. The first option in the list will disable the Restricted mode and grey out the option. The second option will apply the moderate restricted mode. However, the last option will enable the Strict Restricted mode.
8. Lastly, you can click on the Apply/Ok button to save the changes.
9. You can always change it back to default by changing the toggle option to Not Configured in step 6.