Enable or Disable Startup Boost in Edge using Intune

In this post, I will show you how to enable or disable Startup Boost in Edge using Intune policy. Edge startup boost is a feature that is designed to improve the browser’s startup time, making it launch faster when you open it.

When Startup Boost is enabled, Microsoft Edge runs a set of core browser processes in the background, even when the browser is not actively in use. These processes start as soon as you log into your computer. This feature is particularly useful for users who frequently open and close their Edge browser throughout the day.

By default, Edge has the startup boost feature enabled. If you believe Edge is hogging more resources on your PC, you may manually turn off this feature by going to Edge settings >
System and performance > System.

Enable Startup Boost in Edge using Intune

Alright, let’s create an Intune policy that enables the Startup boost feature in Edge for users. First, sign in to the Intune admin center. Go to Devices > Windows > Configuration > Create > New Policy. Choose Windows 10 and later as Platform and Settings Catalog as Profile Type.

On the Basics tab of the Create Profile window, specify the name of the profile as “Enable Startup Boost in Edge Browser using Intune”. You may add a brief description about the profile. Click Next to continue.

In the Settings Picker, search for “Startup Boost”. From the results, select the category Microsoft Edge\Performance. Here you’ll find two settings to select from:

• Enable startup boost: Select this setting to turn on the start boost in Microsoft Edge browser for devices (device groups). Settings applied to device groups always go with the device, not the user.
• Enable startup boost (User): Select this setting to turn on the start boost in Microsoft Edge browser for users (user groups). Policy settings applied to user groups always go with the user, and go with the user when signed in to their many devices.

In the below example, I have selected the policy setting “Edge startup boost (User)“. Close the settings picker.

If you enable this policy, startup boost is turned on. If you disable this policy, startup boost is turned off. For the policy setting Enable startup boost (User), slide the toggle to the right to enable this setting. Click Next.

In the scope tags section, you specify scope tags. Specifying scope tags is optional, and you may skip this step. Click Next.

In the Assignments window, select the user groups to which you want to assign the Edge Startup boost policy. I recommend deploying the profile to a few test user groups first and then expanding it to more users if the testing is successful. Select Next.

On the Review + Create page, review all the settings that you have configured so far and select Create. A new policy is created, and you can find it under the list of Configuration Profiles.

Sync Intune Policies

To speed up the policy assignments, you can manually sync Intune policies using different methods on your Windows computers. The sync action will force devices to immediately check-in with Intune and retrieve the latest policies.

Monitor Edge Startup Boost Policy

To monitor the Startup boost edge policy assignments in Intune, go to Devices > Windows > Configuration and here select the ‘Enable Startup Boost in Edge‘ Profile. On the Policy overview page, check the device and user check-in status.

Here you will find the number of devices or users on which the policy has been applied successfully. From the screenshot below, we see that policy assignments are successful and there are no errors observed.

In some cases, the policy may fail to apply to certain users. To resolve these issues, you will need to troubleshoot the issue by reviewing Intune logs on Windows computers. These are essential IME logs that are useful for troubleshooting app and policy assignments failures on remote computers.

End User Experience

To verify if the startup boost feature is turned on via Intune policy in Edge browser, sign in to Windows 11 client. Launch the Edge Browser and navigate to edge://settings/system. Here you will see that startup boost is enabled, and it cannot be turned off manually by the user.

Disable Startup Boost in Edge using Intune

In this section, I will show you how to disable startup boost in Edge browser using Intune.

1. Sign in to the Intune admin center. Navigate to Devices > Windows > Configuration. Click on Create > New Policy.

2. Choose Platform as Windows 10 and later and Profile type as Settings catalog. Click Create.

3. On the Basics tab, enter the profile Name and Description. Click Next.

4. On Configuration settings tab, click on + Add settings. In the Settings picker window, search for ‘Startup boost‘ and from the results, select Microsoft Edge\Performance category. Under settings, check the policy, Enable Startup boost (User). Close the settings picker window.

5. Configure the Enable Startup boost (User) policy setting to disabled. This will permanently turn off the startup boost feature for Edge users. Click Next.

6. In the Assignments window, select the user groups to which you want to assign the Edge Startup boost policy. Select Next. On the Review+create tab, verify the policy settings that you’ve configured and click Create.

7. Wait for the Intune policy settings to apply to the targeted user groups. Meanwhile, you can speed up the policy retrieval on your pilot groups by syncing these devices manually with Intune.

8. To verify if the Edge Startup Boost is disabled, sign in to the client computer. Launch the Edge Browser and navigate to Edge settings > System and performance > System. Here you will see that startup boost is disabled, and it cannot be turned on manually by the user.

I hope this guide assisted you in enabling or disabling the Edge startup boost feature using Intune policy. If you need any clarification, feel free to ask in the community forums or reach out via the contact form.

Further Reading

Check out some interesting guides on managing Edge browser using Intune policy.

• Microsoft Defender: Enable Application Guard for Edge
• Enable and Configure Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge
• Microsoft Edge Home Button Policy Settings
• Get ADMX Templates for Microsoft Edge
• Show Performance button on the Toolbar in Microsoft Edge