Epic Launcher: Use Default Browser for Web Links

Development Getting Started & Setup
,
1

Hi Epic Team,

Right now, the Epic Launcher opens links in Microsoft Edge, even when Chrome or another browser is set as the system default. This only changes if Edge is uninstalled, but reverts back once it’s reinstalled.

Can you update the launcher to use standard http:// or https:// links that respect the system default browser? It would improve consistency and user choice.

Thanks!
–PassionfruitsNom

17 Likes
2

100% agree with this. Please respect the user’s selected/preferred browser choice.

1 Like
3

For the love of God, FIX THIS ASAP! It makes no sense to use edge for this!

1 Like
4

Here’s an example of a user loss scenario caused by this.

1.) User Installs Launcher to Use Unreal Store again
2.) User is prompted to log in
3.) User selects google login
4.) Edge is opened instead of chrome where the user is already signed in
5.) Now needing to log into google on a new browser: User says, ‘nevermind’ and goes back to steam.

Literally happened to me tonight.

5

Epic Launcher uses the system’s default browser to open web links.

6

EpicGamesLauncher does not use the latest prescribed browser.
I am having trouble logging in etc. because of this.

7

Hi everyone,

I’m encountering a frustrating issue with Epic Games Launcher that seems to be related to my browser settings, and I believe it ties into the problem discussed in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/comments/1eop3oe/problem_with_arc_browser_and_epic_games_launcher/

My main problem is that when Epic Games Launcher tries to open a link, it keeps trying to use Arc Browser, which was previously my default browser but is no longer. This makes it impossible to proceed within the launcher.

After some investigation, I’ve noticed a discrepancy in the Windows Registry regarding default browser settings. Specifically, the values in these two keys are different:

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoiceLatest

I suspect that the UserChoice key holds outdated information. It seems to contain the data for my old default browser (Arc), and the Epic Games Launcher appears to be relying on this outdated information. I confirmed this because the hash value for my Arc browser matches the hash listed under UserChoice.

The frustrating part is that even after I’ve changed my default browser through Windows settings, the UserChoice information doesn’t update and continues to point to my old default browser.

I believe this issue might be a consequence of a Windows 11 update, as discussed in this blog post: https://kolbi.cz/blog/2025/04/20/userchoicelatest-microsofts-new-protection-for-file-type-associations/

Has anyone else experienced this, or found a workaround? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

8

Solved: Epic Games Launcher Browser Issue (UserChoice Fixed)

Hey everyone,

I’m happy to report that I’ve solved the issue with the Epic Games Launcher trying to open links in my old browser (Arc)!

The Fix: Disabled UCPD and Edited the Registry Directly

I was able to resolve it by disabling the UserChoice Protection Driver (UCPD) and directly editing the registry, following the guidance from these articles:

What I Did

  1. Temporarily disabled UCPD.
  2. Deleted the UserChoice key under both HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\ and https\.
  3. Re-enabled UCPD.

This forced Windows to regenerate the correct default browser information, and now the Epic Games Launcher works as it should.

Important Note: Editing the registry directly carries risks, so please proceed with caution and back up your system before attempting these steps.

Hope this helps anyone else facing similar issues!

9

I have a fresh install of windows 11 and Epic Games Launcher is the only software showing this issue. All links in the side bar or anything related to account management are opening in Edge Browser as well as every external link on game store pages, instead of my Default Firefox. I have been troubleshooting for about a week as to why only Epic is having this problem.

It is worth noting this previously worked correctly for me but I dont know exactly when it changed, I only noticed it after reinstalling.

I was very hopeful and followed @enpel instructions to the proposed solution but it did not work for me in the end and all behavior stayed the same even after the registry changes mentioned. I am hoping we can bring more attention to this issue in the near future.

10

I was unable to replicate this solution your way but had success eventually a similar way. Windows kept using Edge even after following your steps and guides, what eventually led to my success was copying the Firefox information from the UserChoiceLatest key into the User Choice key. this obviously made windows give me an error but it set browser information to default across windows and then when I went back through settings like a normal user and set everything to Firefox again it worked as normal, including Epic Games Launcher.

11

Epic Launcher now opens the web links in your default browser instead of the forcing its own.