Unable to customize new tab page in Edge (Version 92.0.902.67)

Question

After an Windows Update patch that removed legacy Edge and replaced it with Chromium Edge, I lost the ability to customize my new tab page layout and content. Selecting the "Customize" button just brings me back to a generic new tab page:

I've reviewed all the posts I can find on how to fix this and nothing seems to work.

This is the only workstation where this behaviour occurs. I am able to fully customize the new tab page on other computers.

Thanks!

OS: Windows 10 Enterprise, Version 1909, OS building 18363.1679

Answer 1

Hi @gmj

From your test result, now we can determine that the issue is caused by Internet connection failure to ntp.msn.com.

Actually, Edge new tab page's actual URL is default to ntp.msn.com. For more information, you can refer to this thread. The issue new tab page you got is a local page version.

I have no idea why your connection to ntp.msn.com is broken. I only know you need to remove this line 127.0.0.1 ntp.msn.com in your hosts file. With this line in hosts file, it will lead to the connection failure to ntp.msn.com. Besides, you can check other Internet and Proxy settings to see if some settings block the ntp.msn.com connection.

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Yu Zhou

Answer 2

I ASKED BING AI HOW TO FIX THE ISSUE AND THIS WORKED FOR ME

• Go to Edge Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data. Search ntp.msn.com then click the bin icon to remove and check if the issue is fixed. If the gear icon is still missing, check the Hosts file if ntpmsn.com is being blocked and remove it.

Note: I deleted all the cookies for msn.com, everything I could find and this worked for me

Answer 3

8/17/21 Update:

• Today I spoke with our network security staff and the IP address associated with ntp.msn.com (i.e., 204.79.197.203) had been blocked because of previous bad behavior. E.g., https://www.ipqualityscore.com/free-ip-lookup-proxy-vpn-test/lookup/204.79.197.203 rates that IP address as a high risk site that frequently allows IP tunneling for malicious behavior. Similarly, it is also listed by https://www.abuseipdb.com/check/204.79.197.203 with a "Confidence of Abuse" rating of 30%; that site also includes a listing of submitted abuse reports, most of which are recent!

An action item for Microsoft: Recommend that contact IPQualityScore LLC as the address associated with ntp.msn.com is, as of today, still rated as high risk (with a fraud score of 100)! Microsoft may also wish to review the reports on AbuseIPDB (which places the risk confidence at 30%).

• Our team opened a ticket to investigate and, pending their review, will unblock that address for me ... when that task has been completed, I will test and post the results to this ticket.

8/18/21 Update:

• Once the firewall block was removed, all works as expected.

An action item for Microsoft: If you review the AbuseIPDB listings, you'll see that the IP address is regularly blocked by Sophos UTM Network Protection and this probably prompts companies/institutions to include the address in their firewall blocks. This, in turn, prevents configuration of the Edge new tab page.