Microsoft Edge Remote Debugging is Not Working When Using the Default User Profile

Question

Hi,

I am trying to enable remote debugging/CDP for Microsoft Edge using my existing/default Edge profile.I am using the following command:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9222

or

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --user-data-dir="default" --remote-debugging-port=9222

Edge launches successfully, and when I open edge://version, the Command Line shows:

--remote-debugging-port=9222

However, the debugging endpoint is not available.

For example:

netstat -ano | findstr :9222

returns nothing, and:

http://localhost:9222/json

is not reachable.

What I observed

Interestingly, remote debugging works when I specify a custom user-data directory:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --user-data-dir="C:\edge-debug-test" --remote-debugging-port=9222

In this case:

netstat -ano | findstr :9222

shows the port as listening, and the CDP endpoint is accessible.

I found a similar issue with Chrome, and I was able to find documentation explaining that Chrome introduced restrictions around remote debugging the default user-data directory.

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/remote-debugging-port

However, the current Microsoft Edge documentation seems to indicate that remote debugging using --remote-debugging-port should work, and I could not find any documentation describing a similar restriction for Edge.

Has Microsoft Edge also introduced a recent restriction on remote debugging the default user-data directory/profile?

If so, is there any official documentation or announcement describing this change and the recommended way to enable CDP for an existing/default Edge profile?