Back in 2022, Google updated Chrome with a dedicated Make Default button. In a single click, it allowed users to change the default browser to Chrome without fiddling with OS settings. The feature worked flawlessly for eight months until Microsoft released the April 2023 update for Windows.
The Make Default feature works as expected on macOS devices. But since the recent update, the button redirects to the Default Apps in Windows Settings. For further details on the Default Apps page, check out how to change the default browser on Windows.
On Windows Enterprise edition, the Settings panel pops up every time Chrome launches. The bug has affected hundreds of Windows machines across several organizations, as reported by IT professionals on various support forums. They have also pointed out that the issue doesn’t arise when Microsoft Edge is the default. Uninstalling the April 2023 update fixes the bug while keeping Chrome as default.
The update crippled the one-click default setting on other Windows versions too. But opening Chrome doesn’t trigger the Settings. Instead, clicking the “Make Default” button in Chrome settings pulls up the Default Apps section in Windows Settings. Users must manually select Chrome from the drop-down menu and ignore the “Try Edge” prompt.
TechRadar found that the dedicated button within Microsoft Edge does make it the new default. But it misbehaved during our testing (the same with Chrome). Mozilla Firefox features a similar default toggle which is still working. It’s worth noting that, unlike Chrome and Edge, Firefox isn’t built on Chromium.
The April 2023 update, titled “KB5025221”, doesn’t mention the bug in the support pages. But in March 2023, Microsoft published a blog detailing a new approach to app pinning and defaults. The goal is to give users better control over app pinning and defaults. To that end, Microsoft plans to introduce shortcuts (deep link URI) that direct users to the relevant Settings pages. By way of speculation, the buttons on Google Chrome and Edge are also behaving as shortcuts to Settings.