What is Microsoft Edge WebView2 (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) in Windows 10 and 11?

If you noticed a suspicious process or executable “Microsoft Edge WebView2” (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) running in Task Manager in Windows 10 or Windows 11 and you are wondering what is this process, this article will help you in learning more about this process in details and will also assist you in disabling or removing this process.

Microsoft Edge WebView2 (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) Running in Task Manager

If you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11 operating system in your computer and you open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), you might see multiple instances of a process MSEdgeWebView2.exe running.

Following screenshot shows multiple MSEdgeWebView2.exe processes running in our Windows 11 device:

Generally 7 to 8 instances of this process run in Windows 11 but you might see more instances running in your device.

Sometimes this process starts consuming lots of system resources which may cause high CPU usage and memory usage issue in devices.

What is Microsoft Edge WebView2 (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) in Windows 10 and 11?

Microsoft Edge WebView2 is a control platform that uses Microsoft Edge browser as its rendering engine to display web contents in applications. App developers use WebView2 control to embed web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc in their apps.

So basically WebView2 is used in modern (UWP or Store) apps to use Microsoft Edge browser’s functionality to provide web components.

If you use Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365, many Office apps such as Outlook already use WebView2 control to provide features like Meeting Insights, Room Finder, etc.

WebView2 control requires WebView2 Runtime installed in the device. To help developers in distributing their apps easily, Microsoft launched Windows 11 bundled with WebView2 Runtime. In other words, Windows 11 already comes with WebView2 Runtime built-in.

Microsoft has also announced that it’ll start rolling out WebView2 Runtime to Windows 10 devices as well.

This is the reason, you see MSEdgeWebView2.exe running in Task Manager because the WebView2 Runtime has been installed in your device and running in background.

Is Microsoft Edge WebView 2 Safe or a Virus?

No. WebView2 is not a virus or suspicious item. As we mentioned above, it can be considered as a part of Microsoft Edge web browser. Windows 11 comes with WebView2 runtime preinstalled and Windows 10 devices are getting WebView2 runtime in phases.

If you are not facing any issues with WebView2 process, you should keep it running as it is used by many apps and programs.

How to Disable Microsoft Edge WebView2 (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) Running in Windows?

Now the question occurs can we disable or restrict WebView2 from running in our device? Yes, you can. Most of the times, the MSEdgeWebView2.exe process runs due to Widgets feature in Windows 11 operating system. The Widgets feature introduced in Windows 11 utilizes Microsoft Edge WebView2 control.

You can check using Task Manager which process or program is using WebView2 in background. In Task Manager, go to Processes tab, scroll down and you’ll see Windows Widgets process listed. Expand the process by double-clicking on it and you’ll notice several instances of Microsoft Edge WebView2 running under it as shown in following screenshot:

Since Widgets feature is enabled in Windows 11, the WebView2 runtime always runs in background and you see its executable process running in Task Manager.

To get rid of MSEdgeWebView2.exe running in background, you can disable Widgets feature in Windows 11 using the steps given in following article:

[Tip] Disable or Remove Weather Widget on Windows 11 Taskbar

Once you turn off Widgets in Windows 11, restart your computer and after reboot, you’ll not find MSEdgeWebView2.exe process running in Task Manager.

Can I Remove Microsoft Edge WebView2 (MSEdgeWebView2.exe) in Windows 10 and 11?

Although Microsoft Edge WebView2 is listed as installed program in both “Control Panel -> Programs and Features” and “Settings -> Apps” page, the option to uninstall or remove the program might be grayed out i.e. not available in your device.

Following screenshot shows Microsoft Edge WebView2 listed under installed programs list in Control Panel -> Programs and Features page:

As you can see in above screenshot, there is no option available to uninstall the program. We can only repair the program by clicking on “Change” button.

Similarly, following screenshot shows Microsoft Edge WebView2 listed under installed programs list in Settings -> Apps -> Apps & Features page:

Again, only Modify option appears when we click on 3-dots menu given for the program.

But we can end task or kill the MSEdgeWebView2.exe process running in Task Manager which will stop the executable from running in background and consuming system resources.

Launch Task Manager, select MSEdgeWebView2.exe process, right-click on the process and click on “End process tree” option. It’ll remove all instances of the process running in Task Manager.

Also Check:

[Fix] Microsoft Edge (MSEdge.exe) Always Keeps Running in Background Even After Closing the Browser

[Fix] Too Many “Microsoft Edge Update.Exe (32 bit)” Processes Running in Task Manager in Windows