Changing your default search engine to something other than Bing is easy in Internet Explorer with just a few clicks. That is, unless you work in a corporate environment and your network administrator has not locked your web browser settings.
Some administrators have overdone the restrictions a bit, and forcing people to search using only Bing is a prime example. In this article, I’ll show you how to change some settings in the registry so you can use Google as your default search engine instead of Bing.
If Registry Editor is also disabled on your PC, be sure to check out my previous post on how to re-enable Registry Editor. It is worth noting that the registry keys that we will be changing are not critical for the system, and therefore, if you confuse something, nothing bad should happen to your computer.
However, just in case, be sure to read my post on backing up and restoring the registry first. The procedure is a bit technical, but if you follow it slowly, it is not too difficult. I tested this on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 and it worked on all three operating systems.
Edit SearchScopes for IE in the registry
In IE, every search engine you add to your browser is called a registry search scope. First, before we enter the registry, we need to create a new GUID that we will use as a key. Sounds intimidating, but just follow the instructions below.
Step 1. Open PowerShell by clicking Start and typing powershell.
At the command line, just copy and paste the following command:
[Guid] :: NewGuid ()
The result will be a long number with letters and dashes as shown below. Select GUID and then press CTRL + C to copy it to the clipboard.
Now we need to convert this to uppercase because the registry is case sensitive when creating keys. The easiest way to do this is to open Word, paste the text, select it, and then select WRITE.
Step 2. Now let’s open the Registry Editor by clicking Start and typing regedit. Now navigate to the next key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Microsoft Internet Explorer SearchScopes
If you click SearchScopes, you will see several keys on the right. The main one that interests us is the DefaultScope. Double click on it and paste in the new Scope ID we just created.
Note that you need to add an opening curly brace and a closing curly brace around the GUID we created.
Click OK and the value should update. Now that we’ve set up the default search scope, we really need to create a new search scope.
Step 3. Right-click the SearchScopes key on the left navigation bar and select New – Key.
Paste the new GUID value again as the key name. Again, don’t forget to add the curly brace to the beginning and end of the GUID. The registry keys should now look like the image below:
Step 4: Now for the fun part. We need to create a pair of new keys in the right pane for the new search scope. So first select the new search scope we created and you will see that there is only one key named Default.
We only need to create five new keys. To create a new key, simply right-click any white area in the right pane and select New, then select String Value for the first key.
You want to name your new key DisplayName and then press Enter. Then double click on the new key and you can enter the value information. Enter Google in the value data field and click OK.
Now add the rest in the same way. Below I will list the name of the key (in bold), the type you should select (in italics), and the value you should enter.
FaviconURL – String Value – http://www.google.com/favicon.ico ShowSearchSuggestions – DWORD (32-bit) value – 1 SuggestionsURL – String value – http://clients5.google.com/complete/search?q= {searchTerms} & client = ie8 & mw = { ie: maxWidth} & sh = {ie: sectionHeight} & rh = {ie: rowHeight} & inputencoding = {inputEncoding} & outputencoding = {outputEncoding} URL – String Value – http: //www.google.com/search?q= {searchTerms}
Once you’re done, your final entries should look like the image below:
Once everything is set up in the registry, open Internet Explorer. You don’t need to restart your computer for this to work. When IE opens, you can see a message below that an unknown program wants to change your search engine. Go ahead and click “Change”.
Now, when you type something into the address bar, it should give you search suggestions and should search with Google when you hit Enter.
If something doesn’t work as expected, be sure to check all the keys and make sure the GUID is the same for the DefaultScope and the key name in SearchScopes. Also make sure the GUID has an open curly brace and a close curly brace in both of these instances.
Hope this helps you access Google search in IE even if your system is locked. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to comment. Enjoy!
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