How to Change the Default Browser When Set Default Is Greyed Out
Windows 11; Windows 10 differences noted where they exist · Last checked · Suggest an edit
https://instructions.wiki/windows/change-the-default-browser-when-set-default-is-greyed-out
You open Settings, Apps, Default apps, click Chrome or Firefox, and the Set default button is greyed out. One of a few things is blocking it. Work through these in order.
Open the browser once and accept its prompt
Windows only offers a browser as a default after it has been installed and launched at least once. Open the browser. If it asks to become the default, click yes. Go back to Default apps and check the button again.
Check for Windows 11 in S mode
Go to Settings, System, Activation. If the edition reads Windows 11 Home in S mode or Windows 11 Pro in S mode, only Microsoft Edge is allowed as a browser. To leave S mode, click Open Store under the S mode section and choose Get on the Switch out of S mode page. This is free and takes a minute, but it is one way; you cannot go back to S mode afterward.
Check whether the PC is managed
Go to Settings, Accounts. If you see the text "Some settings are managed by your organization," or the PC is signed in with a work or school account, an IT policy controls the default browser. Ask the IT department to change it. Nothing you do in Settings will override that policy.
Set the link types by hand
If none of the above apply, set the pieces individually. On the Default apps page, click the browser you want. Under its name you will see a list of file and link types. Click each of these and choose the browser: HTTP, HTTPS, .htm, and .html. Those four cover web links and saved web pages. Add .pdf if you want the browser to open PDFs too.
Sign out and back in
Sometimes the button stays greyed out because the Default apps page is showing stale information. Sign out of Windows and sign back in, or restart the PC, then open Default apps again and retry.
If it is still greyed out. Outside of S mode and organization management, Windows does not block a normal user from changing the default browser. If the button stays disabled after all of the steps above, one of those two is in play even if it was not obvious, so recheck Activation and Accounts.