Solved Hardware acceleration disabled MS Edge

Hello!

I noticed that the hardware acceleration in Microsoft Edge is disabled and grayed (cannot be enabled). I run Windows 11 Pro 23H2 build 22631.3007, I have installed all updates and I have upgraded my graphics drivers at least a month ago. Please tell me why the option is grayed (cannot be changed) and how to fix it.

Thanks.

Assuming your computer specs are correct, you cannot enable Hardware Acceleration because your graphics card is simply not up to the task.

The only way to correct that would be to buy another computer with a better graphics card.

in all the sims I play, I have to leave my hardware acceleration disabled or they don't work, I am not complaining at all, just saying don't wory about it.. IMHO.

@retiredat44
What games do you play in your browser?

I'm always looking for new games to try

trumpy81 said:

@retiredat44
What games do you play in your browser?

I'm always looking for new games to try

Click to expand...

It's just a text game, but it's kind of addicting.
Plus, there's no instructions... you just have to "figure it out".


Someone on here suggested it... so I tried it out.

@Ghot
Thanks for that. I'm not much into text adventure, but I'll take it for spin anyway ... lol

@Brink has am instructional post about this

trumpy81 said:

@Ghot
Thanks for that. I'm not much into text adventure, but I'll take it for spin anyway ... lol

Click to expand...

I will tell you this... when you go to exit the game click Save (bottom center of screen), a box pops up with all these text characters in it.
COPY the whole page of characters and paste them in a text file.

When you want to resume the game... click on Save again, and Import the page of characters you previously saved.

Get one character wrong... and the Import won't be accepted.


Here's what the SAVE text looks like...

Thanks @Ghot I will try that

Well, sorry I wasn't clear. I have this issue in my main PC (see 2nd system specs) which has a discrete nVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card with a recent driver (if not the latest) installed. So I am sure hardware is not an issue. Yes, I know how to enable/disable hardware acceleration in Microsoft Edge from Settings, Performance, but the control is grayed and doesn't allow me to toggle it to Enable. I just wonder why the control is grayed and if I can fix it.

PS: I knew it there is also a Registry hack to force hardware acceleration. Thanks @BamaInArk for the link, thanks @Brink for the Tutorial. I will try it later.

I downloaded the Enable .reg file from the Tutorial and applied it. It worked. Now hardware acceleration is enabled in Microsoft Edge and cannot be changed, but I don't care. Thanks, I will mark the thread solved.

I'd be kinda curious why the feature is sometimes not available/hidden? Hardware restriction or software glitch, etc!

I suspect some application forced the Disabled setting which also grays the option and you cannot change it. To be able to change it from Edge you must set the "Use when available" value in Registry, see the above Tutorial, otherwise it is either Enabled or Disabled without letting you change it.

I always disable hardware acceleration in browsers, it is not needed anymore. While GPU is doing all the work, CPU is taking a vacation. Why? Using CPU saves energy and bills and you will not notice any difference. Let it go and keep PC cool.

Yes you will if the CPU is busy doing work in the background (such as rendering some HD videos).

My issue is that all other streaming sites (Netflix, Disney+ etc) play the video full screen at HD without hiccups, but a specific Greek site, www.ertflix.gr starts playing and after some time freezes. That's why I checked the hardware acceleration setting and was surprised to see it disabled and without allowing me to toggle it on. It must be their website because I read others have the same issue. The weird thing is that it plays flawlessly in an Android device either using the App or in Google Chrome browser. It appears the bug affects mostly Windows browsers. If I use an Android emulator such as Bluestacks or Memu it plays fine except for the occasional stutter. Does anyone knows why is that? Is there any workaround for Windows? I will try changing the User Agent to mobile phone to see if that fixes it. You can test it yourselves if you want, the site also offers foreign movies at the original language with Greek subtitles. It is free to use, the subscription simply keeps track of your movies and series so you can resume from where you stopped.