How to Fix: Microsoft Edge Keeps Crashing

There were quite a few reasons why users preferred switching from Chrome to Microsoft Edge. The majority pointed out that the latter wasn’t as resource hungry as the offering from Chrome.

Since Edge didn’t consume too many system resources, it translated to a smooth and streamlined browsing experience. However, that doesn’t always seem to be the case.

Recently, the browser gave me a torrid time while browsing several websites. It either crashed every other minute or froze at regular intervals.

I searched for this query online and found many complaints already lined up across Microsoft Edge Forums. This guide shall help you fix the Microsoft Edge crashing issues.

Since your browser isn’t currently in the best state, it might be challenging to use and execute the workarounds below.

Keeping that in mind, we would provide you with the shortest possible way of carrying out these tweaks, which would only require minimal interaction with the browser. With that said, let’s get started.

Close Background Apps

First and foremost, ensure you aren’t running too many apps in the background. If that is the case, then not only would it result in the browser lagging, but it could also slow down the entire system.

Here are steps to close the background apps:

1. Launch the Task Manager via Ctrl + Shift + Esc shortcut key combinations.
2. Switch to the Memory tab and heavy resource-consuming app.
   It would highlight them with a darker color.
3. Select the unused app, and click on the End Task command.
   
4. Relaunch the browser once all these apps have been closed.

Some apps would automatically start themselves on the next bootup. So it would be best if you disable this behavior of those apps from the Startup tab in the task manager.

Or consider using the Task Manager to manually close their processes after every reboot to stop this issue from reappearing.

Disable Edge Extensions

If you have several extensions installed, they will take their time loading. This would then result in a slow start-up time.

Furthermore, if any of these add-ons get slowed down, the entire browser would have to suffer. The best route forward is to disable all these extensions and uninstall the culprit.

1. Launch the Microsoft Edge browser, and head to edge://extensions/.
   It will display the list of all the installed extensions.
2. Disable the toggle to turn off the extension process.
   
3. Now re-enable them, one at a time, until you can re-create the issue.

If your browser is on a crashing spree and isn’t letting you do this task, there’s another way out. Use the Ctrl + Shift + N shortcut key combinations to launch the private mode. This will disable all the extensions, and you may now browse in this window without any issues.

Delete Microsoft Edge Data

Your browsing session is directly proportional to the amount of browser data accumulated. While this might not be a problem initially, it could cause concern with time.

Out of all the plausible issues, the crashing or slowing down of the browser is the most common. Therefore, it is recommended to delete this data regularly. Follow the steps to clear browser data:

1. Launch the Edge browser on your PC.
2. Bring up the Clear Browsing Data dialog box using Ctrl + Shift + Del shortcut keys.
3. Select Cookies and Other Site Data and Cached Images and Files.
   
4. Finally, hit the Delete key and wait for the data to be deleted.

Deleting the data would sign you out of sites and slow the website’s loading. However, all these are just one-time phenomena and will be rectified the next time you visit those sites (as the data would get re-populated).

Update Edge Browser

Using an old browser build could result in quite a few issues. While you may or may not get new features with each update, there will surely be some stability improvements and fixing of issues. So if you haven’t updated Edge in quite a while, now is probably the right time.

Here are the steps to update to the latest version:

1. Launch the Edge browser, and head to edge://settings/help in the address bar.
2. Edge will automatically check for the available update and download it right away.
   
3. Relaunch the web browser.

Once that is done, relaunch Microsoft Edge and check if the crashing issue has been fixed with this update. If your answer is negative, other workarounds deserve your attention.

Repair Microsoft Edge

Many apps have a built-in repair functionality that Edge could use to fix their associated issues and errors. Likewise, Edge also boasts this feature which you can use right from Windows Settings without even launching the browser.

Here are steps to repair the Edge browser:

1. Head over to the Start menu and search Apps & Features.
2. Select the Microsoft Edge browser, and click on the Modify button that appears.
   You shall now get the User Account Control prompt.
3. Click Yes (make sure you are signed in as an administrator).
4. Hit the Repair button and wait for the process to complete.
   
5. Once done, launch Microsoft Edge and check if the crashing issue has been fixed.

This is quite a handy option that often spells out success for the end user. Moreover, you wouldn’t lose any data by carrying out this process.

The only thing worth keeping is that you must be connected to the internet while repairing work.

Reset Edge Browser

If none of the above methods worked out, you should consider resetting the browser and reverting its settings to their default values. Here are the steps to reset:

1. Launch the Edge browser on the computer, and go to:

   edge://settings/resetProfileSettings

   It shall bring up the Reset Settings dialog box.

2. Hit the Reset button.
   

Resetting the browser will reset the start-up page and pinned tabs, delete the stored cookies, and disable all the extensions. But all your data would stand secure.

Bottom Line

So with that, we conclude the guide on how you could fix the Microsoft Edge crashing issue. We have shared six different methods for the same.

In my case, deleting the stored data and closing the resource-consuming background apps managed to give out the desired results. However, repairing the browser has often fixed the underlying issue causing the browser to crash.

In a few instances, the users have upgraded the available storage from HDD to SSD to make the browser smoother than ever.

Please let us know what helped you frequently fix the issue with Microsoft Edge Crashing. Also, anything else that has helped apart from mentioned steps?

Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback on How to Fix: Microsoft Edge Keeps Crashing, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.