Edge 130 breaks file URL links

Question

Microsoft Edge update 130.0.2849.46 has broken the ability to open file URLS (File://). With the IntranetFileLinksEnabled policy enabled, the links are supposed to open up in File Explorer. After Edge updates from 127 to 130, clicking on links pointing to a File URL (starts with Fiile://) results in a blank page with "about:blank#blocked" in the Address field. My organization's Intranet has a menu with links pointing to various network shares, this is causing a lot of headaches. Anyone else running into this? Any fixes or workarounds?

The issue is related to a custom-built protocol handler

Thank you

Answer 1

Hi @Farid,

This issue should be workarounded by adding the command line option --disable-features=StandardCompliantNonSpecialSchemeURLParsing*.*

You can try in CMD with the following command (end all Edge processes first):

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --disable-features=StandardCompliantNonSpecialSchemeURLParsing

If it works, you can edit the Target here at Edge properties with the same command (end all Edge processes first):

If it does not work, please consider rolling back to 129, which is fully supported even after Edge 130 Stable is released. I'll update the solution once it comes out. Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE

Microsoft has decided to temporarily disable this feature through the Experimentation and Configuration Service (ECS). This feature disablement is now fully rolled out to Edge 130 Stable (100%), so it is expected that this takes effect after a browser restart. It should apply to all 130 versions (including extended stable channel). If you don't know which to use, it is recommended to keep it up to date. Please note that in order to receive this rollout, you shouldn't disable ECS through policy.

If you have to disable ECS in your environment, please wait for an official fix to land on future releases.

Additional information on this protocol handler change:

To accommodate this change in behavior, software vendors that implement custom protocol handlers are urged to review developer guidance at Support Non-Special Scheme URL - Google Docs, with special focus on the "How to fix your custom URLs" section.

Note: This feature is planned to be turned on again in Microsoft Edge version 133. Admins can use the StandardCompliantNonSpecialSchemeURLParsing feature flag to explicitly enable the feature in the Edge Canary Channel. Customers are encouraged to test the impact of this upcoming feature and prepare for the change in behavior.

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Best Regards,

Shijie Li

Answer 2

We're having the same issue with Edge 130 and a custom protocol handler (not a "File://" call). The handler is calling a vbscript and we've confirmed it works fine if we backup to the Edge 128 Extended-Stable version.

The recommended "--disable-features=StandardCompliantNonSpecialSchemeURLParsing" EXE switch resolves the issue in Edge 130. However, this isn't a practical solution for end users. As such, is there a GPO, a registry value or another deployable solution for this StandardCompliantNonSpecialSchemeURLParsing value? I didn't see anything in only GPOs list, and I tried searching on numerous values (e.g. "Special", "Scheme", etc).

Answer 3

Thank you for info,