Microsoft Edge has become one of the fastest, user-friendly and secure browsers for the modern Web. With the implementation of the Chromium engine on the browser, Edge is now stable and comes packed with tools and extensions. In this article, we discuss how to install the Microsoft Edge browser on Linux.
Install Microsoft Edge Using Deb Package
The easiest way to set up the Edge browser on your Debian/Debian-based/Ubuntu/Ubuntu-based system is to use the deb package.
1. Start by navigating to the Microsoft Edge Insider Channel.
2. You can download either the beta version, which is most stable and suitable for most users or the dev channel package, if you would like an early release of the package.
3. Once you have the .deb package downloaded to your local machine, right click the package and select “Open with Other Application.”
4. This will take you to a window to choose your desired application for opening the file. Select “Software Install.”
5. Finally, click on the Install button to start the installation process. You may require an administrative password to install.
If you prefer to use the terminal to install the Edge deb package, you can do so with the following commands.
Ensure you have .deb package from the resource provided above.
Next, open the terminal and navigate to the location of the package.
cd ~/Downloads
Using the dpkg command, install the package as:
sudo dpkg -i microsoft-edge-beta_93.0.0.096.11.1_amd64.deb
Replace the name of the package to match your downloaded package version.
Install Edge Browser on Linux Using Repositories
We can also use the Microsoft Edge repositories to install the Edge browser. To do this, start by installing various required dependencies:
sudo apt install software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget curl
With the above requirements met, proceed to add the the Microsoft GPG key.
wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Once imported, enable the repository using the command:
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge stable main"
Finally, update the packages and install the Edge browser using the commands:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install microsoft-edge-*
Note: replace the asterisk with either “beta” or “dev”, allowing you to install either the beta or the dev version of the browser.
Installing Edge Browser on Arch/Manjaro
To install the Edge browser in Manjaro, you can use the AUR repositories.
To enable AUR repositories on Manjaro Linux:
1. Open the application’s menu and search “pamac”.
2. Select “Add/Remove Software”.
3. Open the preferences menu using the hamburger icon on the top-right corner.
4. In the preferences window, navigate to the AUR option and toggle the icon to enable AUR repositories.
5. Close the preferences window and search for “microsoft-edge-dev-bin”.
6. Select the entry that show up and click “Install”.
This should install the Microsoft Edge browser on Manjaro.
For Arch and other Arch-based distro, you can install the Edge browser with yay
1. Open a terminal and type:
sudo pacman -Sy yay
2. Once yay is installed, enter the command to install Microsoft Edge:
yay -S microsoft-edge-dev-binInstalling Microsoft Edge on Fedora/OpenSUSE
To install Microsoft Edge on Fedora or OpenSUSE, use the provided RPM packages.
1. Start by navigating to Microsoft Edge Insider and download the RPM file for your desired channel.
2. Next, launch the terminal and navigate to the location of the downloaded RPM file.
3. Finally, use the command:
sudo yum localinstall microsoft-edge-beta-*.rpm
Note: replace the asterisk with the version of the downloaded RPM package.
Launching the Edge Browser
To launch the browser, launch the activities search bar and type edge.
Click on the Edge icon and launch the browser.
You can also launch it by typing the command microsoft-edge in the terminal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Microsoft Edge free?
Yes, Microsoft Edge is a free browser.
2. How is Microsoft Edge different from Firefox?
Although not very noticeable to your average user, Firefox comes with additional tools compared to the Microsoft Edge browser, such as Eye Dropper, Web Developer Extensions and more. However, due to the implementation of the Chromium platform, MS Edge provides an advantage over Firefox with support for Chrome extensions.
3. How frequently will I receive browser updates?
Depending on the channel from which you installed Microsoft Edge, you are likely to get updates as frequently as every week for the Dev channel and every six weeks for the Beta channel.
Wrapping Up
In this guide, we discussed various methods to set up the Microsoft Edge browser. Once set up, you can add browser extensions or import bookmarks, history and passwords from other Chromium-based browsers.
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