Microsoft is reportedly testing the shutdown of Manifest V2 extensions for select Edge Canary users

The countdown to retiring older extensions in Chromium browsers has been underway for months, and it now appears Microsoft is ready to flip the switch. A new report says MV2 extensions may already be getting disabled in Edge Canary.

Venkat at Windows Report noticed their extensions had been turned off, with greyed-out toggle buttons; the browser displayed a banner stating, “This extension has been disabled since it is no longer supported in Microsoft Edge,“ and then directed them to “search for similar extensions.”

In the screenshot they shared, you can see that Edge automatically disabled the IDM Integration Module and uBlock Origin, which is the main reason for os the backlash against the removal of MV2 extensions.

In August, we noted that Edge intended to mirror Chrome and get rid of MV2 extensions before the end of 2026. Microsoft had already stated that warnings would begin to be issued in late summer, with the full disablement being introduced first in early test builds. And it looks like that’s exactly what might be happening right now.

Nevertheless, this update is not yet affecting all users equally. When I launched Edge Canary version 156.0.4287.0 on my machine to confirm the behavior, I couldn’t get the warning to appear. uBlock Origin remained enabled, and I didn’t see any notice that the extension was disabled.

Microsoft routinely puts forward experimental changes for testing with small groups of users before making them available to everyone, so the result you get may differ according to the test group to which you are assigned.

This change comes shortly after Google had already discontinued the older standard altogether and removed all extensions on the older standard from the Chrome Web Store. Edge is following a similar approach, just a bit behind.

If you still want to use traditional content blockers and don’t want to compromise, excellent options still exist. As we’ve mentioned previously, browsers like Brave, with built-in shields, and Firefox, with its own extension engine, welcome users leaving Chromium.

If you’re going to stick with Edge, we suggest preparing for the end of the MV2 era. uBlock Origin Lite will still be available since it’s based on the MV3 standard, but don’t expect it to be as feature-rich and powerful as the original. You’ll also need to seek out alternatives to any other MV2 extensions that you might have installed.

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