With the release on Microsoft Edge Insider release for testing – I started by testing the deployment of the new Edge from Intune. The new Edge has become my favorite browser already, it is fast using less system resources and having a good user experience.

Note: Microsoft Edge insider is in preview and is not production ready!

In this short blog post I will only cover how to deploy Microsoft Edge not how is it working or how to configure it – that is for a future blog post.
For the deployment part as the new Edge installer is a .exe we need to deploy it with Intune win32 app – so first we need to wrap the application with Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool before we are able to deploy with Intune,

There is two different version one for each deployment channel – the only difference there is in the channels is how often it will be updated for the Dev Channel it is updated once a week and the Canary Channel is updated once a day,

You need to go Microsoft Edge Insider download page
Select the right download for your testing

  1. Dev Channel
  2. Canary Channel

Edge Insider - Intune 01.png

  1. Click Accept and download

Edge Insider - Intune 02

  1. Then you can close the popup box

You are now ready to wrap the new Edge to be deployed in Intune

Edge Insider - Intune 03

But first you need to get the Offline installer for Edge DEV – personally I use Windows Sandbox in Windows 10 1903 so I don’t mess up my device when finding the different install, uninstall strings and the information for detection rules uses when creating the Intune Win32 app.
From the properties of the shortcut for Microsoft Edge Dev I get the file for my detection rule : “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Dev\Application\msedge.exe”
When browsing “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\Download\” I found that there is a offline installer for Microsoft Edge Dev version 75.0.139.1 that is easier to use then the first installer downloaded from the Edge Insider webpage – do to it don’t contain all the binaries and the offline installer does.

Edge DEV installer in Sandbox

You also need to find the uninstall string to use in your Intune Win32 application it is located in : “HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Edge Dev”
The uninstall string is : “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Dev\Application\75.0.139.1\Installer\setup.exe” –uninstall –msedge-dev –system-level –verbose-logging

Edge Insider uninstall - 01

Write the information down for later use in creating the Intune Win32 app


Download Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool 

Run the command to create the .intunewin file

IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c c:\temp\EdgeDev -s MicrosoftEdge_X64_75.0.139.1.exe -o c:\temp\ -q

Intunewinapputil 1

 

Intunewinapputil 2

The you will have created MicrosoftEdge_X64_75.0.139.1.intunewin that you can use direct when creating a Intune Application.


 

Now it is time to create the Intune Win32 application you can deploy to your end users.
Start Microsoft 365 Device Management portal

  1. Click Client apps
  2. Click Apps
  3. Click Add

Edge Insider - Intune 06

  1. Select App type : Windows app (Win32)
  2. Click App package file
  3. App packages file : upload your MicrosoftEdge_X64_75.0.139.1.intune

Deploy Edge insider Dev Offline installer - 01

  1. Click App information
  2. Name : MicrosoftEdge Dev
  3. Description : MicrosoftEdge Dev version 75.0.139.1
  4. Publisher : Microsoft
  5. Click Logo and upload Microsoft Edge Dev logo

Deploy Edge insider Dev Offline installer - 02

  1. Click Program
  2. Install Command : MicrosoftEdge_X64_75.0.139.1.exe –system-level
  3. Uninstall command : “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Dev\Application\75.0.139.1\Installer\setup.exe” –uninstall –msedge-dev –system-level –verbose-logging

Program.png

  1. lick Requirements
  2. Operating system architecture : x32/x64
  3.  Minimum operating system : Windows 10 1709

Deploy Edge insider Dev Offline installer - 04

  1. Click Detection rules
  2. Select Manually configure detection rules
  3. Click Add

Deploy Edge insider Dev Offline installer - 05

  1. Rule type : Registry
  2. Key path : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Edge
  3. Valuename : UninstallString
  4. Detection method : Value exists
  5. Associated with a 32-bit app on 63-bit client : Yes

Detection.png

Then you are finish with the application and MicrosoftEdge Dev will be uploaded to Intune and when it is finished you can assigned it to your end user.


Now for the end user experience

The new deployed application is showing up in Company Portal the end user just need to click on the Microsoft Edge Dev icon

UX Edge Dev - 01

Click Install

UX Edge Dev - 02

when the installation is finish the end user can start using Microsoft Edge

UX Edge Dev - 03.png

 

 

 

 


Read more:

What to expect in the new Microsoft Edge Insider Channels
Microsoft Edge preview builds: The next step in our OSS journey