When you’re viewing Windows Store on the web through a browser like Chrome or Firefox, it automatically opens the Windows Store app in Windows 10, too. If you find this to be a nuisance, find out how to stop it from happening in the future.
While many people are probably grateful to have the Windows Store open when you open a link to an app in your web browser, others might not enjoy it so much.
If you are among the latter populous and have grown tired of this gimmick, follow these simple steps to stop Windows Store links from automatically opening the Windows Store app if you are using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
NOTE: Before you proceed, you need to make sure that the browser you are looking to configure is not running at all. So, go ahead and close Chrome/Firefox before you start.
Stop Windows Store links from opening the Windows Store app in Google Chrome
For making the change in Google Chrome, you need to do a few changes from within Windows itself.
Step 1: To start, open the “Run” window (Windows Key + R) and type in “%AppData%“. When you have done so, press Enter or click on OK.
Step 2: In the new window that opens, navigate to the directory below until you reach “User Data“.
AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser Data
Step 3: When you reach the User Data directory, you need to look for a file with the name of “Local State“. Right-click on it and choose to open with Notepad.
Step 4: When you have opened the file in Notepad, you will now press CTRL + F and search for the following line “ms-windows-store“. This will currently have the value of “false“, you have to change the value to “true” by replacing the word.
Step 5: When you have done so, Press CTRL + S and exit Notepad. You are now ready to launch Google Chrome and access the Windows Store links without the worry of the Windows Store app launching.
Doing the same in Mozilla Firefox…
Step 1: You need to start Firefox and input the following address in the address bar of the browser:
about:config
Step 2: This will open a page for you in the web browser, once it is open, you will need to scroll down to locate the line below:
network.protocol-handler.external.ms-windows-store
Step 3: You will change its default value from “true” to “false” by double clicking on the value. The change will carry out instantly and there will be no need to reboot the system or the web browsers.
When you have done the above, you can now open Windows Store apps that are on your browser by clicking on the option of “Get the app“, this will open the Windows Store for you, rather than automatically opening for you when you open the Windows Store link. Convenient, no?
Let us know in the comments section on whether or not you will use the guide. I enjoy the convenience so I plan on keeping it on!