Windows Start Menu May Respect Default Browser and Search Engine in Web Results

Microsoft’s Start menu may finally stop pulling web results into Edge and Bing by force — experimental flags discovered in Microsoft Edge Canary suggest Windows Search could soon open links in your system default browser and use your preferred default search engine instead of always routing everything through Edge and Bing. This change, visible in Canary build flags such as msWSBLaunchNonBingDSE and msExplicitLaunchNonEdgeDB, would be a long‑requested correction to a confusing user experience and an important signal about how Microsoft is responding to regulatory pressure in the European Economic Area.

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Background​

For years Windows’ Start menu and taskbar search have mixed two functions: local system search (apps, files, settings) and web‑powered results (suggestions, answers, web links). Historically, many of the web results returned by Windows Search have been served by Bing and then opened in Microsoft Edge, even when users had set a different browser or search engine as their system default. That mismatch spawned annoyance, third‑party hacks, and community utilities designed to reroute queries into Chrome, Firefox, or alternate search engines.
The controversy has been both technical and legal. Regulators in the European Economic Area pushed Microsoft to loosen default‑setting behavior under the Digital Markets Act (DMA); Microsoft responded with EEA‑specific updates that make default app choices more respected and that let some Microsoft apps open web content with the system default browser in the EEA. Those compliance moves created a plausible engineering path for the broader Start‑menu change now hinted at in Edge Canary.

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What was found in Edge Canary (the evidence)​

Edge Canary — the bleeding‑edge development channel for the Chromium‑based Microsoft Edge — contains experimental “flags” that expose internal feature toggles. Reporters and reverse‑engineers have spotted a set of new flags with names that are highly suggestive:

• msWSBLaunchNonBingDSE
• msWSBLaunchNonEdgeDB
• msWSBLaunchNonBingDSEAndNonEdgeDB
• msExplicitLaunchNonBingDSE
• msExplicitLaunchNonEdgeDB
• msEdgeSearchboxHandlerSendsFaviconData

Taken at face value, WSB likely stands for Windows Search Bar, DSE for Default Search Engine, and DB for Default Browser. The combined names imply a capability where the Windows Search host can intentionally hand off web queries to a non‑Bing DSE and a non‑Edge DB (for example, Google in Chrome). The favicon flag points to UX polishing — letting alternate search flows still show correct site icons. These flags and their interpretations were first published in reporting by Windows‑focused outlets and corroborated by the Canary flag dumps seen by independent observers.
Important caveat: flags are not product releases. They reveal engineering experiments and possible direction of travel but are ephemeral — they can be renamed, changed, gated by region, or removed before shipping. Treat the flags as strong signals of intention rather than promise of immediate availability in stable Windows builds.

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Why this matters: the user experience problem Microsoft has compounded​

The Start menu should be a simple launcher and search surface. The long‑standing behavior that directs web results into Edge/Bing — regardless of the user’s chosen defaults — created multiple problems:

• Context switches: users signed into Chrome profiles, extensions, and credentials are forced into Edge and lose session continuity.
• Privacy mismatches: users preferring privacy‑focused search engines (DuckDuckGo, Startpage) or non‑Microsoft telemetry expectations cannot rely on their preferred provider when Start menu queries are re‑routed.
• Ecosystem friction: enterprise environments and managed devices rely on predictable app behavior; forced redirections complicate SSO, certificate chains, and managed browser policies.

Community solutions attempted to plug the gap: utilities like Search Deflector and MSEdgeRedirect intercepted Windows Search calls and rerouted them. These tools helped technically savvy users but required ongoing maintenance and often broke after updates. An official fix built into Windows would remove the brittle third‑party dependency and restore the meaning of “default.”

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Technical mechanics: how such a hand‑off could work​

Several engineering patterns are plausible for implementing default‑browser/default‑search‑engine respect inside Windows Search:

• Protocol hand‑off and explicit URLs
  Windows Search currently uses internal handlers (sometimes edge:// or ms‑edge protocol links) to construct a Bing query and launch Edge. A change could allow Search to build a standard https:// query (for example a Google search URL) and launch it with the system default browser via standard ShellExecute/URL activation APIs. This is likely what flags with “NonEdgeDB” imply: generate a regular web URL rather than a ms‑edge:// redirect and call the default handler.
• Default search engine integration
  Browsers register their default search engine via OpenSearch or internal settings. The flags labeled NonBingDSE suggest Edge/Windows Search could query the browser (or read system settings) to determine the user’s chosen DSE and then build the query URL accordingly. That may require cross‑process communication or a standardized OS API for reading a browser’s DSE safely.
• Fallbacks and explicit modes
  Flags with “ExplicitLaunch” hint at contexts where Windows Search would take a more deliberate routing approach — perhaps distinguishing between implicit suggestions, explicit “Open in browser” actions, or results meant to surface Microsoft content. The actual behavior will depend on internal heuristics and, importantly, enterprise policy controls.
• UX polish (favicons, scoping)
  The msEdgeSearchboxHandlerSendsFaviconData flag suggests Windows Search may still interact with Edge APIs for metadata (favicons) while handing off the actual navigation to another browser — a hybrid approach that preserves polished UI while decoupling navigation.

These are plausible technical paths; they are consistent with the flags reported. However, the exact implementation details are not yet public and must be verified when Microsoft publishes official docs or release notes.

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Regulatory and business context: why Microsoft might be moving​

The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) changed the incentives for Microsoft. The DMA and associated enforcement actions require certain default‑setting behaviors and greater openness for platform gatekeepers. Microsoft has already made EEA‑specific Windows changes — including letting some Microsoft apps open web content in the system default browser in the EEA, and adjusting default app behaviors — as part of DMA compliance. That rollout is documented on Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog and covered widely in the press.
Two practical consequences follow:

• Microsoft may be engineering a single code path that honors defaults globally but was first released or tested in the EEA to meet DMA deadlines.
• Flags in Edge Canary could be Microsoft’s internal bridgework: ensuring the browser and the OS agree on how web results are formed and launched before exposing the behavior broadly or gating it by region.

That regulatory backdrop makes these experimental flags more credible as likely future product changes — especially if Microsoft aims to reduce the number of legally contentious UX nudges that push users back to Edge.

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Strengths of the proposed change​

• Restores user expectation: clicking a link should open the default browser and use the default search engine. This fix aligns system behavior with user intent and reduces confusion.
• Removes need for brittle workarounds: official support eliminates reliance on interception utilities that break with updates, improving reliability for regular users and IT administrators.
• Better enterprise predictability: if Microsoft exposes Group Policy / ADMX controls for this hand‑off, administrators can manage the behavior centrally across managed fleets. Microsoft has historically added policies for Edge features and the Search bar, so a policy surface is plausible.
• Competitive fairness: allowing links to open in the default browser lessens platform lock‑in tactics and removes one friction point for browser competition, a win for web ecosystem choice.

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Risks, unknowns, and unanswered technical questions​

Despite the clear user benefit, the experimental flags raise several practical and security questions that Microsoft and the community should address before wide rollout:

• Telemetry and data flows: it is currently unclear whether queries will continue to be proxied through Microsoft services for enrichment, logging, or security checks before being handed to the default browser. If Microsoft still performs intermediate processing, privacy‑minded users may not get the full telemetry benefits of their chosen search provider. This detail is not documented in the Canary flags and must be verified. Treat any privacy claims as partially unverified until Microsoft documents the data flow transparently.
• SSO and enterprise extension compatibility: many corporate sign‑on flows rely on extensions or integrated features in a particular browser. Routing to Chrome or Firefox could break SSO if extension or certificate flows are Edge‑specific in some enterprises. Administrators will need testing guidance and policy controls.
• Security surface and phishing risk: the Start menu is a privileged surface. Opening web pages in different browsers must preserve protections against deceptive links or app‑to‑web hand‑offs. Microsoft and browser vendors must ensure the same safety checks exist regardless of the target browser.
• Regional gating and fragmentation: Microsoft’s EEA updates show the company can apply different behaviors by geography. If this Start‑menu default‑respect behavior is gated by region, users outside the EEA could be left waiting or be forced into continued use of hacks to achieve parity.
• Flag permanence and naming drift: flags in Canary often change names or disappear. The existence of msWSB and msExplicitLaunch flags today does not guarantee these exact identifiers or behavior will ship unchanged. This is typical of Canary development but worth noting.

Each of these points should be considered a live unknown until Microsoft publishes implementation or release documentation.

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How to test or experiment today (for power users and admins)​

If you want to experiment with the behavior on your own test machines, the community and Canary tooling give a way to observe engineering direction — but proceed with caution: Canary builds are unstable and flags change frequently.

• Install Microsoft Edge Canary (intended for testing, not production).
• Open edge://flags and search for the flags named above (msWSBLaunchNonBingDSE, msWSBLaunchNonEdgeDB, msEdgeSearchboxHandlerSendsFaviconData, etc.). Enable as desired and restart the browser.
• Set your preferred browser as the Windows default using Settings → Apps → Default apps.
• Set the preferred search engine inside your chosen browser (if needed).
• Use the Start menu or the taskbar search box and click a web result to observe which browser and search engine are used.
• Record results and test in a lab environment (especially for managed devices) before deploying broadly; do not enable Canary flags on production systems.

This is an experimental workflow and will produce ephemeral results — flags may disappear, and behaviors may be region‑gated.

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Enterprise guidance: what IT teams should prepare for​

Assuming Microsoft ships a supported mechanism for honoring defaults in Start search, administrators should plan the following:

• Update helpdesk and documentation to reflect that Start search results may open in the default browser and use the default search engine. Train support staff on new troubleshooting steps (e.g., browser profile issues, extension behavior, certificate stores).
• Validate SSO and conditional access flows when links are opened in Chrome/Firefox instead of Edge. Check how browser extensions and identity providers behave in the new flow.
• Watch for Group Policy / ADMX updates from Microsoft. The company already provides Edge ADMX templates and Search bar policies (SearchbarAllowed, SearchbarIsEnabledOnStartup), so expect similar policy surfaces for this feature if it ships. Deploy policies in test rings before broad enforcement.
• Monitor telemetry and privacy impact. If your organization’s privacy posture depends on a particular search provider, confirm that routing through system components does not inadvertently send metadata to Microsoft or other intermediaries.

Proactive testing and staged rollouts will reduce surprises for end users and incident queues.

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What this change would mean for browser makers and the web​

If Windows ultimately respects default browser and search engine settings in the Start menu across all markets, the practical and symbolic effect is meaningful.

• Browser vendors will suffer one less UX advantage held by Edge; conversely, Chrome, Firefox, and smaller browsers will benefit from a reduction in platform‑level steering.
• Search providers other than Bing would gain more consistent reach into users’ desktop workflows. That could change competitive dynamics for search traffic and ad revenue.
• For developers and integrators, the change reduces the need to create OS‑specific workarounds or rely on hacky interceptors that can break with OS or browser updates.

Overall, the impact is pro‑consumer choice and easier predictability for multi‑browser environments.

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Verification note and final caveats​

The strongest public evidence for these changes today comes from Edge Canary flags surfaced by independent reporting and experimental flag dumps. Windows Latest documented the exact flag names and demonstrated behavior expectations in a Canary build, and Microsoft’s EEA DMA compliance work provides the regulatory context that makes the change plausible. However, the presence of a flag is not a guarantee of shipping behavior, and important details about telemetry, potential proxies, or region gating remain unverified until Microsoft publishes formal release notes or product documentation. Treat the current reporting as credible engineering signals but not final product commitments.

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Bottom line​

The discovery of msWSB and msExplicitLaunch flags in Microsoft Edge Canary is a significant, optimistic sign that the Start menu’s web results may finally respect both your default browser and default search engine. If Microsoft implements this behavior broadly and transparently — with clear policy controls and documented privacy guarantees — it resolves a longstanding UX mismatch and removes the need for brittle community workarounds. But the feature remains experimental: expect region‑first rollouts, more development in Canary/Dev channels, and an announcement from Microsoft before anyone should assume it’s generally available. Until Microsoft publishes official documentation and release notes, privacy‑sensitive and enterprise users should treat claims about data flow and telemetry as provisional and perform careful testing in controlled environments.

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Quick checklist (for readers who want to track this change)​

• Watch Edge Canary release notes and the edge://flags list for msWSB and msExplicitLaunch entries.
• Follow Microsoft’s Windows Insider blog for DMA‑related Windows updates and EEA rollouts.
• Test in a Canary VM or test device — do not enable experimental flags on production machines.
• Prepare IT documentation and policy checks for SSO, certificate stores, and extension behavior.
• Treat privacy claims as unverified until Microsoft publishes explicit telemetry and data‑flow documentation.

Microsoft’s Start menu experiment could finally make “default” mean default again — a seemingly small change with disproportionately large implications for user choice, enterprise management, and browser competition. The next steps will be whether Microsoft moves these flags from experiment to supported feature, and whether the company pairs the change with clear privacy guarantees and enterprise controls.

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Source: pcworld.com Windows Start menu links could finally launch via Google and Chrome