Skip welcome page in Chrome, Edge and Firefox using Group Policy

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Wolfgang Sommergut

Wolfgang Sommergut has over 20 years of experience in IT journalism. He has also worked as a system administrator and as a tech consultant. Today he runs the German publication WindowsPro.de.

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Both Chrome and Firefox, as well as Edge, encourage users to utilise their cloud services. For this, users are encouraged to sign in with an account from the respective manufacturer in order to enable features such as synchronization of settings and data across devices.

Edges welcome page even expects users to configure the telemetry data option

However, most companies prevent the synchronization of passwords, bookmarks, or browser history for security reasons. Therefore, it makes no sense to prompt for these settings in the welcome page. Moreover, most users don't like to be forced into making these choices upfront.

To prevent the display of these pages, all three providers offer a corresponding option in the group policies.

Google Chrome

When users start Chrome for the first time, they are prompted to personalize the browser. This includes the use of a Google account.

Welcome message from Chrome when the browser is launched for the first time

To suppress this page for all users in an OU or domain, create a GPO, link it to the desired container and disable the following group policy:

• Enable showing users full-tab promotional content

Group Policy to suppress the first run experience

Microsoft Edge

When launched for the first time, Microsoft Edge opens in full-screen mode and presents the wizard in a modal form, making it impossible to close it before completing all three dialogs. After finishing the wizard, Edge defaults to displaying Bing News. This behavior can also be prevented using group policies.

Edge starts a wizard automatically when launched for the first time

The following setting blocks the welcome screen:

• Hide the First-run experience and splash screen

Policy to suppress the welcome page including the wizard

Firefox

Firefox strives to position itself as the preferred browser right from the start, offering to be pinned to the taskbar, import data from other browsers, and enable synchronization across multiple devices.

Enable synchronization of Firefox data between device

To block the browser setup page, you can enable the following setting:

• Override the first run page

Group policy to disable the welcome page in Firefox

Additionally, you can enter the URL of a page that will be opened instead of the initial setup wizard.

Summary

The three most popular web browsers launch with a welcome page on their first run, which is disruptive and ultimately unnecessary in managed environments. However, this initial setup can be hidden for all products using group policies.