Set Windows 11 Search to Use Google Search and Open Chrome

Before getting started with Windows 11 Search, first, you need to make your favorite browser the default browser. This is because we will make Windows 11 Search use the default browser.

How to Set Chrome as Default Browser on Windows 11

Microsoft has made setting default apps on Windows 11 a bit tedious. Nonetheless, you can do that from Settings. I am using Chrome as an example, but you can set any browser as default.

  1. First, download Chrome browser and open Settings (press Windows key+I) > Apps > Default Apps. Here you can find a list of all the apps that you have installed on your PC. Scroll down and open Google Chrome.
  2. You will find different file/link types that you can set Chrome as default for. To set Chrome as the default browser, you need to select Chrome as default for .htm, .html, .shtml, .xhtml, and most importantly HTTP and HTTPS entries.
  3. To do that, click on the file/link type and then select Google Chrome and click OK. As said, you need to do that for all the file/link types mentioned above. That way, opening the HTML file from File Explorer or clicking on a link inside any app will open Chrome instead of Edge. There you go. You have set Chrome as the default browser on Windows. As mentioned, you can set other browsers as default too. However, when you search in Start menu, it will open Edge Chromium instead of Chrome. Here’s how you can change that.

How to Set Windows 11 Start Menu Search to Open Chrome Instead of Edge

Microsoft isn’t letting users change the default search engine and browser in Windows Search. But there are a few third-party open-source apps that can help like Search Deflector, Edge Deflector, or SearchWithMyBrowser. While all of them work well, I prefer the Edge deflector as the setup process is easy. Every time you change the default browser, it automatically reflects the changes in Windows Search too.

  1. First download the latest version of the Edge Deflector app from their GitHub page. To do that, open the link, and under the latest version, select Assets and click on the first link EdgeDeflector_install.exe to download.
  2. Once downloaded, double-click on the file to begin the installation.
  3. Now open Settings (Windows key+I) > Apps > Default Apps > Microsoft Edge. Now scroll down and click on the icon below the MICROSOFT EDGE.
  4. This will open a pop-up asking How do you want to open this? — select the Edge Deflector app from the list and click OK. Now use Windows Search bar to search for something and it should open the search results in Chrome (the browser that you set as default) instead of Edge. Though you can use Google as the default search engine in your browser, the results will still appear on Bing. Here’s how you can change that to Google or any other search engine of your choice.

How to Set Windows 11 Search Results to Open in Google Search Instead of Bing

We have changed the default browser for the Start menu search but we still see results on Bing. Here is how to change that.

  1. Download the Chrometana Pro Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. This works on any Chromium-based browser and not just Chrome. If you are using Firefox as the default browser, then use Foxtana Pro Add-on.
  2. Once installed, click on the Extensions icon at the top right corner and then select Chrometana Pro extension.
  3. This will redirect to Chrometana Pro Setting. Here click on Cortana and Bing and set it to Cortana. Or else, it will redirect to Google even when you search on Bing from the browser.
  4. Then click on Google and select your favorite search engine. By default, you only have Google, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, and Yahoo. But you can select custom and add other search engines like Brave search, Ecosia, or StartPage that are not listed. That’s it. Now when you search using the Start menu, it will open results in Chrome browser and Google Search.

Wrapping Up: Make Windows 11 Search Use Google on Chrome

Though the new Edge Chromium is good, Microsoft should let users choose a default browser and search engine of their choice that works everywhere including the Start menu search. Nonetheless, we have third-party tools to get the job done. Also Read:

How to Get Windows 10 Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 11How to Customize Windows 11 UI Elements