A brand new operating system requires a brand new browser. It’s what Microsoft thought after creating their Windows 10. As a result, the Microsoft Edge browser was released in 2018 to substitute its predecessor Internet Explorer. As you remember, the company praised their new creations speed and high performance. They also mentioned its ability to optimize and extend the battery life on your device. Now Microsoft Edge is considered one of the best solutions for users eager to enhance their browsing experience on their Windows 10 computers. Still, what about those users who due to some reasons failed to update their favorite operating system to the latest version? Will they be able to enjoy the potential of Microsoft Edge? No worries, please. If you’re itching to try out celebrated Edge, but are not sure if it’s worth sacrificing your, say, Windows 8 and installing unfamiliar Windows 10 instead, it’s high time that you explored alternative options. Be sure that it’s possible to run Edge on non-Windows 10 computers, notwithstanding Microsoft’s assertion to the contrary. You’ll be able to use Microsoft Edge for Windows 8 without upgrading to the 10^th version, if you avail yourself of our recommendations.

Solution #1

Microsoft offer images with virtual machines, which comes in handy when it’s necessary to run Edge on third-party platforms. Such machines can be used in lieu of Windows 10, which allows you to try out Edge on your computer. You can take advantage of Hyper-V, VMWare, Parallels, and Virtualbox virtual machine for this purpose. Microsoft offers them for free.

Go to the Microsoft website to download the machine. Once you get the download, you may start using right away on your PC, as all virtual machines come preconfigured.

We suggest that you pay your attention to the VM version, which offers Windows 10 Enterprise edition. It can be the best possible solution for the users who want to enjoy Edge to its full potential for half a year.

Still, there is a downside to this method. All information you store in your virtual machine will be lost after the expiration of the trial period. To avoid any problems associated with important data loss, make sure to backup your data.

As for the virtual machine itself, you can continue using it even after the expiration of the first version. Downloading another copy of the virtual machine image will help you extend the trial period and thus allow you to enjoy Edge for a longer time.

If you opt for Windows 10 Enterprise, you’ll need to make sure you that you have at least 20GB of free space. It’s a minimum requirement for downloading Windows 10 Enterprise package without which you won’t be able to run Edge. You can select one of the four available platforms: Hyper-V, VMWare, VirtualBox, or Parallels after downloading the required package.

Solution #2

Many users opt for the second method, which doesn’t require you to download and install any packages occupying much of your valuable disk space. You have BrowserStack, a cloud web testing platform, at your disposal. It empowers you to test Microsoft Edge on your comp.

You can start using BrowserStack after creating a free account with this service.

Once you create a BrowserStack account, you can use it as a platform for your Edge. Occasionally, users may experience lags and freezes. Still, this problem can be easily avoided by substituting BrowserStack with a Microsoft virtual machine, which will ensure a smoother operation of Edge on your non-Windows 10 PC.