Latest update for Windows 11 was Friday. Now every time I start my PC in the morning MUST make Brave default browser.
Yes I know about the Control Panel setting defaults!
Yes also a retire Network Engineer with Windows certifications.
Yes also been using Brave for years.
Before that latest update, no problem keeping Brave as default browser.
Please edit your Original Post (“OP”) above, to include the Brave Browser version numbers.
Question: What has been the specific indication, that Brave Browser is not the default browser? (A prompt?)
And, do you think there is a chance that:
-
testing an additional Brave Browser Profile might be worth the effort?
-
some extension(s) might now (after the Windows OS update) be contributing to the problem?
-
any chance that permissions might be affecting the stick-or-not-stick ability of the settings?
May be of interest:
brave://chrome-urls/#internals
There, scroll down to, and click (to examine each of):
brave://prefs-internals/
brave://local-state/
In each, search for default_browser
Make note of the settings, before/after, you make the morning adjustment (“MUST”).
You might find something that - maybe - should stick, but does not, for some as-yet-unknown reason.
BTW, the Preferences and Local State pages cannot be edited directly.
On the chance, that you may eventually decide to ZAP (reset):
brave://settings/resetbrave://flags(Reset all - button)
Please be prepared:
- Make note of Brave Browser Settings that you would manually restore (Yeah, it is a lot of paperwork, but you know the drill.)
- Back up bookmarks (and tabs, as bookmarks)
- Back up passwords
- Back up Windows Registry
- Create System Restore Point
I would maintain a chronological collection of a backed up “BraveSofware” folder:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\
in a directory, something like:
C:\BraveBrwsrBkups
So, when I run into a problem / puzzle as you have, I exit/quit everything, and replace the existing “BraveSoftware” folder (setting it aside) with one of my backups . . . and then restart the computer.
I have had to do that on occasion, over the years, to fix a variety of Internet browser problems, on Mac OS and Windows OS machines.
Found a tip (for Linux OS users, but you might try it):
1- Create an empty html file (ex: file.html)
2- Right click → Open with → Other Application… → choose Brave & tick remember application → Ok
If the prompt continues to occur, another tip:
" You can ignore it forever by clicking on the
Xbutton on the right, it won’t pop up again. my solution will make brave default for opening links and files so everything will be fine even if brave doesn’t detect itself as default browser."