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Microsoft Edge 157: New Features, Admin Policies, and How to Check Your PC

Microsoft Edge 157 adds Apple account sign-in, new hover cards, and admin policies. What changed, the XSLT timeline, and how to check a PC.

Key facts

  • Microsoft Edge 157 reached the Stable channel on Nov. 5, 2026 as version 157.0.4341.42.
  • Users can sign in to Edge with an Apple account, controlled by the NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled policy.
  • Accelerated App Launch needs Windows 11 25H2, 26H1, or 26H2 and Edge 150 or later.
  • Browser-native XSLT turns off by default in Stable in Edge 159; the admin override ends in Edge 176.
  • Autolaunch opt-in for managed devices is a controlled rollout using the LaunchEdgeOnWindowsStartupEnabled policy.
In this story11 sections
Person browsing the web on a laptop, representing Microsoft Edge 157
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Microsoft Edge 157 reached the Stable channel on Nov. 5, 2026 as version 157.0.4341.42, according to Microsoft’s Stable channel release notes. The release adds sign-in with an Apple account, an upgraded Copilot new tab page, updated tab hover cards, and an opt-in launch setting for managed devices. It also finishes a sign-in change for Windows and starts the countdown for turning off browser-native XSLT. This guide lists what Microsoft Edge 157 changes, which policies and settings control each change, and what Microsoft’s notes leave unsaid.

Microsoft Edge 157 release facts

Item Detail
Version 157.0.4341.42
Stable channel date Nov. 5, 2026
Web platform notes Published for the same date
WebView2 preview runtime 157.0.4341.10, dated Oct. 22, 2026

What Microsoft Edge 157 adds

Change What Microsoft says Control named
Apple account sign-in Users can sign in to Edge with an Apple account as well as a Microsoft account Policy NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled
Copilot new tab page Search, chat, and web exploration from one search box, with Copilot-suggested actions None named
Copilot in Edge New icon across entry points and a simplified side pane, with Copilot Voice and Vision Security, compliance, privacy, and enterprise controls unchanged
Tab hover cards Clearer tab memory usage and memory savings information; tab-preview images and memory usage get separate settings Two separate settings
Fading tabs Tabs no longer fade, and the Fade inactive tabs setting is removed Removed from edge://settings/system/managePerformance
Autolaunch on managed devices Users can choose whether Edge launches when Windows starts; controlled rollout Policy LaunchEdgeOnWindowsStartupEnabled

Microsoft also lists one fix in Microsoft Edge 157: a prolonged browser freeze that occurred with certain web apps when accessibility features were on.

Accelerated App Launch in Microsoft Edge 157

Accelerated App Launch makes Edge open faster on Windows when it is already running in the background. The notes set two requirements, shown in the table.

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Requirement Detail
Windows version Windows 11 25H2, 26H1, or 26H2
Edge version Edge 150 or later
Platform Windows

The notes do not say how a user turns the feature on or off, and they give no figure for how much faster the browser opens. Readers who need a newer Windows build can see the Jolt Journal’s Windows 11 Cloud Rebuild guide.

Sign-in changes for administrators in Microsoft Edge 157

Microsoft says Microsoft Edge 157 completes the move from direct WAM sign-in to OneAuth on Windows. WAM, the Windows account manager, is not being deprecated. Microsoft gives an administrator these steps to see which profiles still use WAM.

  1. Open edge://signin-internals in Edge.
  2. Find Edge Auth Library Information, then Library.
  3. Look for profiles that still show WAM.

For early testing, Microsoft names a launch flag, msedge.exe --enable-features=msForceOneAuthWAM, and says all Edge processes, including background ones, must be closed first. Microsoft lists the NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled policy for the Apple account option.

XSLT and other deprecations in Microsoft Edge 157

Item Date or version Detail
XSLT off by default Edge 157 in Canary, Dev, and Beta; Edge 159 in Stable Covers the XSLTProcessor API and XSLT processing instructions
XSLT admin override Works until Edge 176 Policy XSLTEnabled and the XSLT deprecation origin trial
XSLT tenant notice Message Center MC1509789 For tenant administrators
Copilot URL redirect Edge 157 notes Review allow and block lists and add *.cloud.microsoft; Message Center MC1462915
RoamingProfileSupportEnabled Not on the Chromium timeline Microsoft promises 60 days’ notice before deprecating it
BackForwardCacheForWebSocketsAllowed Deprecated in this release Listed under deprecated policies

New policies in Microsoft Edge 157

Policy What Microsoft says it does
CloudManagementEnrollmentToken Enrollment token for cloud policy
BlueprintGWAAvailability Controls Blueprint GWA availability
ComponentUpdatesMode Configures component updates
AllHttpAuthSchemesAllowedForProxies Proxy servers that allow all HTTP auth schemes

Web platform changes in Microsoft Edge 157

Microsoft’s separate web platform notes list changes for developers. The table picks the ones with the clearest descriptions.

Feature What it does
CSS corner shorthand Sets border-radius and corner-shape in one declaration, such as corner: 20px squircle;
text-overflow custom string Shows a chosen string when content is clipped, such as " (more)"
text-decoration-inset Controls how far underlines and similar decorations extend past the text edges
displaymode="icon-only" Renders the <camera>, <microphone>, and <geolocation> elements as compact buttons without text
HTML-in-canvas Draws HTML elements into a canvas, with drawElementImage() for 2D contexts
HTML insertion methods New positional and streaming methods, such as appendHTML() and streamHTML(), with Unsafe variants

How to check a PC for Microsoft Edge 157

These steps are the Jolt Journal’s own suggestions, and Microsoft’s notes do not list them.

  1. Open edge://settings/help to see the installed version and trigger an update check.
  2. Compare the version with 157.0.4341.42, the build Microsoft names for the Nov. 5 release.
  3. Check the Windows version before expecting Accelerated App Launch, since it needs Windows 11 25H2, 26H1, or 26H2.
  4. On a work PC, ask the administrator whether the LaunchEdgeOnWindowsStartupEnabled and NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled policies are set.

Browser updates are a security habit as well as a feature question, and the Jolt Journal’s guide to updating Chrome covers the same routine for the other major browser.

What Microsoft’s notes leave open

The notes for Microsoft Edge 157 do not give a date for when every user will see the autolaunch opt-in, because Microsoft calls it a controlled rollout. They do not say which markets get Apple account sign-in, and they do not describe how the Copilot new tab page can be turned off. The notes also do not say whether Accelerated App Launch applies on devices where Edge is not set to run in the background.

Who needs to act on Microsoft Edge 157

This table is the Jolt Journal’s own summary of the notes by reader type, and Microsoft does not publish it in this form.

Reader Items in Microsoft Edge 157 to look at
Home user on Windows 11 Apple account sign-in, the hover cards, and Accelerated App Launch on 25H2, 26H1, or 26H2
Web developer The XSLT change in Edge 159 and the new CSS and HTML features
IT administrator The WAM check, the Copilot allow-list entry, the new policies, and Message Center items MC1509789 and MC1462915

Editor’s take

Microsoft Edge 157 is a release where the administrator’s checklist is longer than the user’s. The visible changes are small, with hover cards, a new Copilot icon, and an Apple sign-in option, while the policy and deprecation items affect managed fleets. Teams that rely on XSLT in Microsoft Edge 157 and later have until Edge 159 for the default change and until Edge 176 for the override, which leaves time to plan a migration.

This is general information based on Microsoft’s release notes. Features roll out gradually, and Microsoft’s own pages have the final word.

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