Downloading one other net browser is likely one of the first duties many individuals do on a brand new Home windows PC, normally with the built-in copy of Microsoft Edge or Web Explorer. Nevertheless, there are a number of different methods to seize Chrome or Firefox on a recent PC.
Within the outdated days, acquiring an online browser normally meant choosing up a CD or floppy disk, or ready for a gradual obtain over FTP networks. Home windows ultimately shipped with Web Explorer by default, and later Microsoft Edge, which meant downloading one other net browser was only a few clicks away. Within the trendy period, Edge and its default search engine (Bing) attempt to cease you from switching away with warnings while you search “google chrome” or one other associated time period, which is fairly humorous.
Despite the fact that utilizing Edge to obtain one other browser in your Home windows PC remains to be the best methodology, there are a number of different option to seize Chrome, Firefox, or one other browser of your selection.
The Microsoft Retailer
The built-in app retailer for Home windows 10 and 11, the Microsoft Retailer, used to lock out extra superior functions like net browsers. The principles are extra unfastened today, and consequently, Mozilla Firefox turned the primary main net browser on the Microsoft Retailer back in November 2021.
As of January 2022, you possibly can obtain Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Opera GX, Brave Browser, and some less-popular options from the Microsoft Retailer. Simply open the Microsoft Retailer app in your PC and seek for them.
There are nonetheless many faux apps on the Microsoft Retailer, although, so watch out you seize those linked above. On this state of affairs, the place we’re attempting to not use an online browser, you possibly can be sure you open the appropriate listings through the use of the Home windows Run dialog and the Store URI scheme. For instance, right here’s the shop URL for Firefox:
https://www.microsoft.com/retailer/productId/9NZVDKPMR9RD
See that string on the finish after “productId”? Open the Run dialog (Win + R), then sort this URL:
ms-windows-store://pdp/?ProductId=9NZVDKPMR9RD
Click on OK, and the Microsoft Retailer will open to that particular itemizing. You’ll be able to exchange the half after “ProductId=” with the ID of the rest on the Microsoft Retailer.
PowerShell Scripting
One methodology of immediately downloading recordsdata from the net with out a net browser is with PowerShell, one of many command-line environments in Home windows. The best methodology is to make use of the Invoke-WebRequest command, which works way back to PowerShell 3.0, which was bundled with Home windows 8 — making the command out there on each trendy model of Home windows.
To get began, seek for PowerShell within the Begin Menu and open it. There are additionally many other ways to open PowerShell. You must see a immediate that begins in your most important consumer folder. Begin by typing “cd Desktop” (with out the quotes) and press Enter. That approach, the downloaded recordsdata will likely be saved to your Desktop for straightforward entry.
Lastly, seize the obtain hyperlink to your browser of selection from the bottom of this article, and put it contained in the Invoke-WebRequest command like this:
Invoke-WebRequest http://yourlinkgoeshere.com -o obtain.exe
PowerShell ought to show a progress popup, after which shut it when the obtain is full. You’ll be able to then strive opening the “obtain.exe” file that has been created on the desktop.
Curl Command
You may as well immediately obtain recordsdata from the web on Home windows utilizing Curl, a cross-platform software for making net requests and downloading recordsdata. Curl is preinstalled on Home windows 10 model 1803 or later (the April 2018 Replace).
First, seek for PowerShell within the Begin Menu and open it, or open it from the Run dialog by urgent Win + R and typing “powershell” (with out the quotes). First, set the listing to your Desktop folder, so you possibly can simply discover the file when it’s downloaded. Run the beneath command and press the Enter key while you’re performed.
cd Desktop
Subsequent, get the obtain URL to your browser from the bottom of this article, and put it contained in the curl command just like the beneath instance. Observe that the URL must go inside quotes.
curl -L "http://yourlinkgoeshere.com" -o obtain.exe
That command tells Curl to obtain the required URL, observe any HTTP redirects (the -L flag), after which save the file as “obtain.exe” within the folder.
Chocolatey
One other option to set up software program on Home windows with out a net browser is Chocolatey, a third-party bundle supervisor that works a bit like APT on some Linux distributions. It permits you put in, replace, and take away functions — together with net browsers — all with terminal instructions.
First, seek for PowerShell within the Begin Menu and open it as an Administrator. Then run the beneath command to permit executable scripts like Chocolatey to run, and press Y when prompted:
Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned
Subsequent, it’s essential set up Chocolatey. The beneath command is meant to be copied and pasted into the PowerShell, however we’re working from the belief that you simply aren’t utilizing an online browser on the Home windows PC, so have enjoyable typing in all that:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Course of -Drive; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Web.WebClient).DownloadString('https://group.chocolatey.org/set up.ps1'))
When it’s performed, you’ll be capable to set up net browsers with easy instructions, in addition to anything else in the Chocolatey repositories. Beneath are the instructions for putting in in style net browsers. Take into account that anytime you need to run Chocolatey, you need to open a PowerShell window as Administrator.
choco set up googlechrome choco set up firefox choco set up opera choco set up courageous choco set up vivaldi
Chocolatey packages are designed to be up to date by way of Chocolatey (for instance, by working “choco improve googlechrome”), however net browsers already replace themselves.
HTML Assist Program
You might have seen the Home windows Assist Viewer earlier than, which some functions (principally older software program) use to show assist recordsdata and documentation. The Assist Viewer was designed to render HTML recordsdata, together with ones loaded from the net. Despite the fact that that technically makes it an online browser, it’s ridiculous sufficient that we needed to throw it in right here.
To get began, open the Run dialog (Win + R), then run this command:
hh https://google.com
That command opens the Assist Viewer with the Google search web page. Nevertheless, as you utilize it, you could discover that the majority pages barely work or render as fully damaged. That’s as a result of the Assist Viewer makes use of the rendering engine from Web Explorer 7. The viewer doesn’t even acknowledge HTTPS.
The traditional browser engine means many obtain pages for net browsers don’t work in any respect — nothing occurred once I tried clicking the set up button on the web page for Google Chrome. Nevertheless, if you will get to a working web page, it’s able to downloading recordsdata. For instance, you possibly can obtain Firefox from Mozilla’s archival web site:
hh http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases
You shouldn’t actually use this methodology, not simply because it’s wildly impractical — downloading executable recordsdata by way of an insecure HTTP connection makes you susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. Making an attempt it out by yourself house community ought to be superb, however by no means do that on public Wi-Fi or another networks you don’t absolutely belief.
Browser Obtain Hyperlinks
Listed below are the URLs for the most recent out there variations of in style browsers on Home windows, which can be utilized with any of the URL-based obtain strategies talked about above. These have been verified to work as of January 2023.
Google Chrome (64-bit): https://dl.google.com/chrome/install/standalonesetup64.exe
Mozilla Firefox (64-bit): https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest&os=win64
Mozilla Firefox (32-bit): https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest&os=win
Opera (64-bit): https://net.geo.opera.com/opera/stable/windows
Mozilla explains all of the choices for the obtain hyperlink in a readme file. Vivaldi doesn’t provide direct downloads, however you possibly can see the most recent model within the “enclosure” component in the update XML file — that’s additionally how Chocolately downloads the browser.
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